Daughter of Heaven and Earth: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2
by thesituation016
Summary: Peter and Rhea are on the rocks when they barely have even started, Rocket is having some sort of midlife crisis, Taylor is having to practically fight half the galaxy to get to her brother, Gamora and Nebula have been reunited, the sovereign are hunting them, and the Quill kids father has come back into the picture. Just another day for the guardians of the galaxy.
1. Chapter 1

Daughter of Heaven and Earth: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2

Groot slipped out of Peter bunk clutching a picture to his tiny chest as he ran through the ship avoiding the other members of the guardians. He went into Rhea and Gamora's bunk crawling up on Rhea's bed where the sorceress was practicing a spell.

"Hello Groot, what have you got there?" Rhea ceased her spell upon seeing Groot and his stolen picture.

He held it out to her while crawling into her lap. Rhea looked at the picture depicting a woman with long wavy blonde hair and hazel eyes. Flanking her were two children that seemed twins, one male and the other female and while their hair matched the woman only the son shared his mother's eye color, the girls were brown.

"I am Groot." Groot pointed to the boy. "I am Groot." He pointed to the woman then pointed to the girl. "I am Groot?"

"I…I don't know." Rhea eyed the girl. "But you shouldn't have taken this from Peter's room, you need to give it back to him."

"I am Groot." Groot said worriedly.

"You should have thought about that before you took it." Rhea stood to her feet she placed Groot on her shoulder and walked through the ship toward the cockpit. Peter was leaned back in the pilot's seat watching the stars pass by as he listened to his awesome mix. "Hey Peter."

"Rhea! Hey." Peter quickly set up as she took a seat in the co-pilot seat. "Hey Groot. What brings you two up here?"

"Groot here has something to give back to you." Rhea said and reluctantly Groot held out the picture. Peter looked confused for only a moment until he realized what the little tree hand. He quickly snatched it form Groot causing him to flinch back.

"I am Groot." He said softly.

"What were you doing in my bunk?" Peter asked tightly.

"I am Groot." Groot said guiltily.

"His candy stash? Groot I told you that you need to lay off the sugar, it's not good for you." Rhea admonished him. Rhea noted how quiet Peter had gone and looked form Groot to the Star Lord. He was staring down at the old picture running his fingers over the folding marks. It looked like he had not seen the picture in a long time, his eyes looking a little misty. "Peter?"

"I am Groot?" Groot asked pointing at the picture.

"That's my mom Meredith." Peter said in a strained voice. "And that's my twin sister…Taylor."

"Sister?" Rhea said in surprise. "You have a sister?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "A long time ago."

"Did she pass away as well?" Rhea asked gently.

"I don't know." Peter said. "When I was taken from earth I never went back, I don't know what happened to her."

"Why didn't you go back?" Rhea asked.

"By the time I got my own ship and got away from Yondu a lot of time had passed." Peter tucked the picture away. "She probably had a husband and kids by now, I don't want to show up and mess her life up."

"I am Groot." Groot commented.

"He's right you know, I bet she does miss you." Rhea said gently reaching out covering his hand with hers.

"Maybe…" Quill said with a sad half smile.

-0-

Rhea looked over her outfit in the mirror with a satisfied smirk before grapping her black leather trench coat and heading out of her room; she wore a black lace backless halter top crop top, a dark green asymmetric high wasted draped stretch mini maxi trends skirt, and a pair of black filigree ankle strap heels. She had a on a pair of emerald dangle earrings, a matching bracelet, a pair of silver upper arm cuffs, and her ever present locket. She slipped on her jacket and closing it up the front.

"Is that what you're wearing?" Peter asked looking over her closed coat.

"Yeah, it's pretty cold out there." Rhea shrugged tucking a strand of her now jaw length jet black hair cut into an inverted bob behind her ear.

"Oh…that's good…" Peter said with a grin as Rhea and the others looked at him strangely. "I mean you don't want to catch a cold or…." Peter trailed off then cleared his throat. "Come on, let's go before it gets packed."

They had just finished up and job and decided that a break was in order. Drax and Rocket had heard there was a good gaming table in the local club, Gamora was going for the drinks, Peter it was assumed was going for the girls, Rhea was going for the dancing, and Groot would remain on the ship already fast asleep. Rocket had rigged up a super baby monitor that would take care of Groot and alert them if anything was going wrong.

The club was hopping by the time they arrived, but luckily not crowded to the point of being uncomfortable. They all parted ways as soon as they entered seeking out their forms of entertainment. Peter sat himself down at a booth and was soon joined by a purple woman as well as a blue one, both of them hanging on his every word until he trailed off his eyes focusing on the dance floor.

Rhea had removed her trench coat revealing her outfit that fit her toned body like a second skin and the way she was moving to the music was downright hypnotic. Apparently he wasn't the only one to think so; not with the way some of the males were moving in close.

Rhea smiled at a few dancing with them, but never lingering, enjoying letting the music take control. Peter didn't even notice his companions leave after he made no responses to them; he was completely focused on Rhea and the man that was currently being persistent in retaining her as a dance partner.

He had paper white skin with scatterings of black spots on the outside of his arms going up to his shoulders, then neck, and the sides of his face. He had long tapered ears, messy black hair and completely black eyes with blue irises. He wore a black leather sleeveless body suit with grey accents and black boots.

Unable to take how close he was getting to Rhea, the way the man leaned in close to talk into her ear making her giggle while his hand rested on his hips with her hands over his. Peter charged onto the dance floor faster than his brain could think and grabbed the man's hand twisting it back before he could make another move.

"Hands off." Peter ground out.

"Peter!" Rhea snapped as he pushed the man away.

"I don't want any trouble, I thought she was on her own." The man looked from Rhea to Peter who was glaring darkly at him before he raised his hands, not wanting a fight, and moved off to find another partner.

"What are you doing?" Rhea snapped glaring at Peter who had grabbed hold of her wrist.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?" Peter snapped back as he pulled her off the dance floor. "That is not what you were wearing when you left the Milano."

"Yes it is, it's what was under my coat! You didn't think I was going to wear that jacket all night?!" Rhea replied. "Why did you just scare off my dance partner?"

"He was getting to handsy." Peter replied.

"We were dancing." Rhea glared.

"That was no dancing, not the way he was clinging onto you!" Peter defended.

"It was dancing Quill, there is touching in dancing." Rhea ground out.

"Not that kind of touching." Peter pointed out to the dance floor. "That's…that's mauling out there!"

"Oh yeah, like you've never danced." Rhea rolled her eyes crossing her arms. "Or mauled for that matter!"

"That's not the point!" Peter snapped.

"Then what is?" Rhea snapped back.

"You…just…" Peter tried to come up with an excuse, but a loud commotion over at the gaming tables saved him from answering. Apparently Drax thought he was being cheated and was about to do something about it with Rocket spurring him on. Needless to say they never went back to that bar ever again.

-0-

Later on the next day Rhea sat at the table in the common room assisting Rocket with one of his projects. She attached a few wires, holding them together so Rocket could fuse them. They often spent time like this exchanging ideas and building bigger better weapons or planning out pranks to pull on the others.

"Saw Peter pulling you off the dance floor, I'm surprised he's not walking funny." Rocket commented as they worked.

"Yeah, I don't know what came over him." Rhea shrugged looking miffed. "And I was really getting into the music."

"And that guy was really getting into you." Rocket said.

"You mean the Dalmatian?" Rhea questioned.

"What the heck's a Dalmatian?" Rocket asked with a confused look.

"It's a…never mind, not important. Taylor waved off the question, not wanting to explain. "What does that guy dancing with me have to do with anything?"

"If you have to ask you're not ready to know." Rocket smirked.

"You devious ringtail." Rhea shot him a look.

"I know." Rocket smiled before grabbing the finished gun and taking it to be put away. She reached over picking up some spare pieces when Peter slid into the unoccupied seat across from her.

"Hey." Peter smiled.

"Hello Peter." Rhea replied not looking up at him as she looked for more pieces.

"Still mad at me huh?" Peter questioned getting a dark look. "I'll take that as a yes."

"And I'm more than likely to stay this way until you tell me why you did it." Rhea said as she started to piece the bits of gizmos together using her magic to fuse them together. The use of her magic left behind glowing pulsing green lines along the metal.

"I just…I don't know." Peter shrugged, starring down at the table drumming his fingers nervously.

"Whatever." Rhea grumbled as she stood up walking away from him. He let out an irritated sigh before looking down at what she had made. Out of bits she had pieced together she had made a star, her magic giving it an interesting glow. He picked it up with a bit of a smile before slipping it into his pocket and going back to the pilot seat.

-0-

Rhea sat with Gamora on her bunk painting her nails emerald green while Gamora was using a dark red color on hers. They talked back and forth about little things like favorite fighting techniques, weapons, and books, normal girl stuff…for them at least.

"Do you ever miss it?" Gamora asked.

"Miss what?" Rhea asked as she blew on her nails.

"Terra, your home and family." Gamora clarified.

"All the time, but I'm quite happy with my new home and family." Rhea replied with a sort of happy and sad look. "I mean I've got a sister, three brothers, and even a pet."

"I don't believe Rocket would like that title." Gamora started, but Rhea waved her off.

"I meant Peter." Rhea smiled and Gamora laughed.

"Hey!" Peter called out, offended.

"You shouldn't have been eavesdropping." Rhea said, not looking up from her rounded nails.

"I was not eavesdropping; I was coming down here to…" Peter trailed off his eyes darting around for an excuse.

"To?" Rhea prompted with a raised eyebrow.

"To see what you guys wanted for lunch." Peter said quickly.

"You're making lunch?" Gamora asked skeptically as Rhea's brows rose in disbelief.

"Yeah, I can cook real good." Peter defended himself.

"I'll take a sandwich." Rhea replied and Gamora nodded in agreement.

"Fine." Peter huffed before going to the kitchen area. A little later they were putting out a fire that no one understood how it got started, not even Peter.

The rest of the day Rhea looked over Drax's collection of blades listening to his story on each one. Where he got it from, how he got it, and why he liked it. She talked to him about different types of blades from Earth and Asgard, bringing up pictures for him to look over.

She ended the day reading to Groot who was still in his pot. He enjoyed 'The Giving Tree' and smiled as Rhea read. Peter glanced over to her from time to time feeling anxious, something he was not use to in the least. There was just something different about Rhea, something that was driving him nuts.

"Why don't you just talk to her instead of stare at her?" Rocket's voice made him startle. "It's freakn' creepy."

"I am not starring." Peter snapped, making sure Rhea couldn't hear them.

"Rocket is correct, you have not removed you gaze from her, you have the similar appearance of a love sick Vortalax." Drax commented. "You should talk to her."

"Both of you are nuts." Peter snapped again before walking away.

"Can you say denial?" Rocket smirked.

"Of course I can." Drax answered earning a groan from Rocket.

-0-

It was a gloomy day and the streets of the town were sparsely filled due to the weather. All was quiet until there was the faint sound of gun fire that grew closer and closer. It had started out as a simple job, get in get out with the blue prints and all had been going great until one of the mercenaries recognized them.

"This was a horrible idea!" Rhea called out as she ran dodging fire from a band of mercenaries. "Why did I listen to you?"

"My charm." Peter replied as they turned a corner in the dark market.

"No, that can't be it. You'd have to have charm to use it." Rhea replied as she used the rain that was pelting them to strike back one of the men that got to close, Quill shooting back another. "Whoah!"

Quill grabbed Rhea pulling her into a small alcove holding his hand over her mouth as the mercenaries ran by them. Peter cautiously looked out of their hiding place noting a few of the mercenaries here and there.

"We should stay here until the coast is clear." Peter said as he looked back to Rhea taking note of how close they were, almost touching. Rhea was staring out the alcove not noticing Peter starring at her until she turned back to him.

"What?" Rhea whispered.

"Nothing." He said quickly, shaking his head as Rhea shot him a confused look. Then an enticing scent started to tickle at his nose making him feel a little heady. "Are…are you wearing perfume?"

"Yes." Rhea replied, raising an eyebrow. "Why?"

"Nothing, it's just…nice, you smell like berries." Peter stammered, glancing away from her. "I like berries."

"Quill, are you ok? Are you sick or something?" Rhea asked as she reached up feeling his forehead causing his face to turn bright red.

"Fine, fine…I think the coast is clear, we should go." Quill grabbed her hand from his face pulling her along. They were able to avoid the mercenaries this time and make it back to the ship, but Quill had not let go of her hand the whole way until the came to the ship.

-0-

Rhea sat in the helm with her feet propped up flipping through one of her spell books. Gamora was in the co-pilot seat writing in her journal, a habit she had recently taken up while Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Quill were out on the town, the girls having opted for a quiet night.

Rhea's head was bopping in time to the beat of Quill's mix tape as Gamora tapped her foot. It was then that someone came onto the ship making a lot of noise as they stumbled toward the helm. Peter nearly tripped down the stairs, but stopped short leaning heavily on the wall as the girls gazed up at him questioningly.

"Where are the others?" Rhea asked turned her chair so that she was facing him, gaining his attention and causing him to sway a bit.

"Uh…" Peter mumbled, unfocused until he focused in on Rhea.

"Are you drunk?" Gamora spat with a disgusted look, but he ignored her and walked straight over to Rhea nearly falling over a few timed before he finally made it to her. He braced himself on the arm rests of the chair effectively trapping her there as she starred up at him and he starred down at her.

"If you throw up on me I will beat you into unconsciousness." Rhea threated with slightly narrowed eyes as she set her book aside.

"I want to date you." Peter said suddenly, ignoring her threat.

"What?!" Rhea looked up at him wide eyed; her mouth falling open slightly in her surprise as she glanced over to Gamora who looked equally shocked.

"I want to date you… just you…exclusively…with the possibility of it becoming…more." Peter explained haltingly, looking a little scared of what was coming out of his mouth.

"What brought this on?" Rhea asked suspiciously, while Gamora watched the exchange in interest.

"I was looking at all those other really hot girls that were just all around me and they kept throwing themselves at me like they usually do, I mean why wouldn't they? I'm me." Peter grinned smugly.

"There better be a point to this if you want to remain unscathed and conscious." Rhea glared as her magic lit up her eyes causing them to glow green.

"They weren't you." Peter said gazing right into her eyes which returned to normal in surprise. "Kept looking at them and all I could see or think about was you and that has never happened to me so all I think it can mean is that I want to be with you and just you."

"You're drunk." Rhea said looking away trying to ignore her racing heart and the way her face heated up. Peter cupped her face his thumbs stroking her cheeks forcing her to look back up at him, Earth Angel by the Penguins playing in the background. Neither of them noticed Gamora slipping out of the ship going to head off the others.

"Doesn't mean I'm not telling the truth." Peter replied leaning in closer.

"Don't do this to me Peter, if you don't mean it, please don't say it, just…please..." Rhea's voice strained.

Peter was struck for a moment out how vulnerable she looked as their eyes locked and it had an instant sobering affect, he knew his next actions would set a tone for the rest of their lives. Rhea could see the fog clear his eyes and felt her heart clench waiting to see what his next move would be.

He stood up straight taking his hands from her face and might have well have been holding her heart letting it crash to the ground. She gripped the arm rests tightly about to shoot to her feet and make a run for her bunk when he held out his hand to her.

"Dance with me." Peter said with a smile.

Rhea looked up at him wide eyed, a tentative smile on her lips as she placed her hand in his and he pulled her up. He gently wrapped one of his arms around his other hand taking hold of her as she placed her free hand on his shoulder and they began swaying to the song.

Gently he pulled her closer until her head rested on his chest and he laid his cheek on top of her head, both of them closing their eyes in contentment. His arms wrapped around her waist while hers lay flat against his chest. He started to song along softly to the song, the sound reverberating in his chest making Rhea's smile grow.


	2. Chapter 2

The beautiful sight of an artificial, glowing golden planet, made of interlocking orbs, revolved slowly around a pulsing blue sun. On the surface of the planet over a circle of pillars a thunderous interdimensional series of cracks splintered out like broken glass over one small patch of the planet.

The cracks snapped ominously in the sky overhead. Peter looked from it to an old Mattel electronic football game that had been converted into a tracker by Rhea, the screen showing a red dot approaching rapidly.

"Showtime, a-holes! It'll be here any minute!" Peter called out.

"Which will be its loss." Gamora said.

"Gamora, catch." Rhea called out tossing ammunition to Gamora who was loading a rifle.

Drax, Rocket, and Baby Groot also readied themselves for battle in the grand, open-air power station. Dozens of batteries were couched in conductor towers encircling them. Quill, Gamora, Rhea, and Rocket wear flying rigs.

"Is that a rifle?" Quill asked eyeing the weapon in Gamora's hands.

"You don't know what a rifle is?" Rhea scoffed.

"I know what a rifle is, I thought her thing was a sword." Peter grumbled.

"We've been hired to stop an interdimensional beast from feeding on those batteries' energy, and I'm going to stop it with a sword?" Gamora questioned him sarcastically.

"Don't look at me like I'm stupid." Peter mumbled to himself looking back to the screen. "You're the one being all inconsistent." He glanced up as Rhea." You still magical?" Rhea ignored him. "Still mad?" Rhea glared at him. "Take that as a yes."

"What do expect Quill?! You give me that speech about wanting to date me and only me. You ask me out on a date, I foolishly enough say yes." Rhea ground out as she double checked the knives in her boots. "We go out on a few dates and I think we're having a great time of it, but six months in halfway through our date you bale on me." Rhea ranted out her frustrations of the past week. "I had to walk back to the ship alone in the rain after looking for you thinking you were in some sort of trouble only to find you drinking yourself into oblivion in the cockpit of the Milano!"

"I panicked!" Peter replied.

"About what?" Rhea demanded.

"I just… I was… nothing." Peter trailed off quickly.

"Can you two continue this lover's quarrel later, we're kind of in the middle of something here." Gamora interrupted them as a louder larger crack resounded through the air. Something was fighting its way through the sky toward them. Gamora glanced over to Drax who stood like a statue staring up at the sky. "Drax, why aren't you wearing one of Rocket's aero-rigs?"

"It hurts." Drax answered.

"Hurts? Why…why does it hurt?" Rhea asked in confusion.

"I have sensitive nipples." Drax muttered glancing over at Rocket, who was working on a pair of speakers wired to Quill's Walkman, laughing hard at Drax. Drax pointed at him in annoyance. "What about him?! What's he doing?!"

"If I finish this, we can listen to tunes while we work." Rocket replied as if it was obvious.

"How is that a priority?" Drax asked.

"Blame Quill! He's the one who loves music so much!" Rocket nodded his head to Quill.

"I agree with Drax. It's hardly important right now." Quill said to Rocket.

"Oh, sure, okayyyy, Quill." Rocket winked at him.

"No, I really agree with him." Quill emphasized.

"Sure, I know." Rocket winked some more.

"I can clearly see you winking." Drax told him.

"Damn. I'm using my left eye?" Rocket realized then heard a small growl. He looked down seeing Baby Groot newly un-potted, and only nine inches tall or so. He angrily threw aside some foraging Orloni.

"Groot, sweetie, don't attack the Orloni." Rhea said with a sigh.

"I am Groot." Groot explained his reasoning for his attack.

"They were not looking at you funny." Rocket said and an even larger crack ripped the sky apart. They all looked up as a hundred-foot-long pale monstrosity broke through the interdimensional rift. The Abilisk was the color of a pinkie mouse with kaleidoscopic and deadly splatter matter pulsing from its maw. "Well. That's intense."

Rocket, Rhea, Quill, and Gamora jet packed out of the way, Quill turning on his mask, while they all fired at the creature, but Drax had other ideas. With a loud battle cry he charged the great creature with his twin blades, stabbing like a wild man with no effect.

While all of this was going on baby Groot trotted up to the stereo speakers and Walkman. He fiddled with two wires until they connected with a spark, the stereo powered up, and "MR. BLUE SKY" by Electric Light Orchestra started to play over the speakers.

Baby Groot started to dance around with no care what so ever as the Guardians were getting pummeled by the beast behind him. His dancing was arrhythmic and many of his "dance moves" were nonsensical mixtures of trembling, swaying, and making weird faces, but it was joyous. As Groot strutted out his stuff, Quill came rolling behind him having been hit out of the sky. As he stumbled to his feet he spotted Groot dancing and became worried for him.

"Groot, look - !" A tentacle flew in knocking Quill away before he could finish his sentence, Groot still dancing on, blissfully unaware. Smiling he danced onward as Drax in the clutches of a giant tentacle, is slammed numerous times into the ground. Groot danced closer to where Gamora was blasting at the creature.

"Get out of the way, Groot! You're going to get hurt!" Gamora ordered upon seeing baby Groot who stopped dancing to wave at her. "Hi.

Gamora jetted away back into the fray as Rhea was hit back barely able to maintain her footing, her hand pressed to her chest. Groot ran over to her happily dancing around her feet before moving on.

"Groot, you need to…" Rhea noticed how he seemed to dance around all the dangers. "Never mind, keep doing what you're doing."

Rhea moved on casting spells at the creature trying to bind as many of its tentacles as she can as well as casting illusions of herself to confuse it. She was grabbed by one of the tentacles unable to get away as it squeezed her tightly. She grit her teeth as her skin turned blue pressing her hands on the tentacle giving the creature frostbite forcing it to let go. Now in her Jotunn form she continued to fight, forming ice to freeze the creature.

Groot continued his dance only stopping when Drax fell directly behind him, Groot freezing on the spot. Drax stared at him for a moment, suspicious. Groot stayed frozen until Drax left back into the fight and then commenced his dance where he left off.

Groot became distracted upon seeing an insect flying by. Suddenly dancing was forgotten and the bug became all important as he gave chase to it. He hopped up and grabs it from the air then stuffed it into his mouth. Rocket spotted him and flew down beside him, worried. He pried open Groots mouth with his fingers, frantically trying to get it out.

"Spit it out! Spit it out!" Rocket ordered.

"Did he eat another bug?" Rhea asked, hovering nearby providing cover for Rocket. Groot coughed out the bug which flew crookedly away, one wing mulched.

"He spit tis out, we're good." Rocket told her as he jetted back into battle muttering to himself "Disgusting."

Groot spotted something else nearby and became furious at the sight of a grazing orloni. Groot screamed a war cry attacking it. He grew branches around it, and the terrified Orloni darted away dragging Groot with it. Groot's anger became panic as he was dragged around by Orloni and couldn't let go. The Orloni darted around the power station and underneath the raging battle, a crying Groot bouncing along behind it. Finally, he lets go and went tumbling to the ground. He then stood up and as if nothing had happened at all, started to dance again.

He was once again by the speakers and Walkman having traveled around the entire Power Station arriving back to where he had started. Suddenly Drax was flung by the beast into the stereo system, smashing it. Groot stopped dancing, angry that Drax had ruined his fun. He picked up a piece of the stereo and started to beat him with it. Drax stood glaring at the ferocious beast as Rocket, Quill, Rhea, and Gamora continued to fight without effect.

"The beast's hide is too thick to be pierced from the outside. I must cut through it from the inside." Drax said as Gamora and Rhea landed on either side of him.

"Huh?" Gamora glanced at him.

"Wait? What?" Rhea questioned as well. Drax made no reply as he raised his knives with a scream charging at the creature.

"Drax, no! That doesn't make…" Gamora tried to stop him, but it was too late. The creature opened its enormous screeching mouth, and Drax leapt inside of it, instantly being swallowed up.

"What is he doing?!" Quill landed next to Rhea and Gamora.

"He said the skin is too thick to be pierced from the outside, so he…" Rhea gestured over to the creature.

"That doesn't make sense!" Quill said.

"I tried to tell…" Gamora started.

"It's skin is the same thickness from the inside as from the out!" Quill spoke over her.

"I REALIZE THAT." Gamora snapped.

"What do we do now?" Rhea questioned sending out another blast while Quill reloaded his pistol, thinking.

"Gamora, there's a cut on its neck…" Peter said pointing at the gash in the neck of the beast. "Rhea, Rocket, get it to look up." Quill Rhea and Rocket jet high up over the creature as they blasted it repeatedly. "Hey, you giant Sea Monkey, up here!"

"Over here blob! Come and get it!" Rhea produced a few more illusions that the beast swiped at but it was no use as her illusions faded away upon contact. Gamora's aimed her rifle about to fire, but found that it was jammed. She tossed it down in disgust pulling out her sword snapping it open.

The beast screeched at Quill Rhea and Rocket flying overhead just out of reach. The colorful splatter matter flew from its mouth battering Rocket burning his clothes, but its neck became exposed, where the skin was thinner because of the wound.

Gamora dashed forward leaping high into the air where she plunged her sword directly into the wound. She held tight to the hilt as she fell, slicing an incision down the length of the creature's neck. The beast wobbled, toppled, and then died. As it collapsed, Drax spilled out of the wound along with the innards of the beast, his arms raised in victory.

"Ha ha! I have single-handedly vanquished the beast!" Drax cheered triumphantly. Quill scoffed, Rocket snorted, Gamora gave him a dead eyed stare, and Rhea rolled her eyes turning back to her human/aseir form while baby Groot threw a rock at him. None of them impressed with his stunts. "What?"

The Guardians de-rigged by the Anulax batteries, stowing away their gear from the battle.

"What are they called again?" Drax asked as he looked at the golden liquid filled batteries.

"Anulax batteries." Quill answered.

"Harbulary batteries." Drax said.

"That's nothing like what I just said." Quill eyed Drax. "But they're worth thousands of units a piece."

"Which is why the Sovereign hired us to protect them." Rhea commented. "Well that and they're too high and mighty to get their own hands dirty."

Rocket pulled out one of the batteries checking it out while the others walked away to get their payment for the job, but Rocket hung back a moment. Quill nodded down the walkway, where golden sovereign citizens stood at the edge of the station, gawking.

"Just be careful what you say around these folks." Quill cautioned them. "They're easily offended and the cost of transgression is death."

"Sounds judgmental for a bunch of golden morons." Drax noted.

"Yes, yes they are." Rhea nodded in agreement.

"That's the kind of thing you two might want to keep to yourselves." Quill warned them.

"I'll hold my tongue, as long as they deliver what was promised." Gamora stated as they walked up to an enormous golden palace in the shape of a globe, dappled by morning sunlight.

"We thank you, Guardians, for putting your life on the line. We could not risk the lives of our own Sovereign citizens." The High Priestess said loftily. High priestess Ayesha was a stunningly beautiful being with golden skin. Her chambermaids and other denizens fluttered throughout her luxurious lair, all of whom are equally perfect and gold. "Every citizen is born exactly as designed by the community, impeccable, both physically and mentally. We control the DNA of our progeny, germinating them in birthing pods."

"I guess I prefer making people the old-fashioned way." Quill winked at Rhea who glared back triyng not to blush.

"Well... perhaps someday you could give me a history lesson in the archaic ways of our ancestors... for academic purposes." Ayesha flirted none too subtly.

"Yeah, I mean, if it's for research that could be pretty…" Quill glanced at Rhea starring at him with a frown before looking away at the ground, her arms crossed tightly over her chest. "Pretty repulsive. I'm not into that kind of casual…"

"Oh, please." Rhea scoffed to hide her hurt.

"Your people promised something in trade for our services. Bring it and we shall gladly be on our way." Gamora spoke up and Ayesha nodded to her soldiers.

They emerged with a woman in a hood and cloak, her wrists bound by shackles. They shoved her to her knees yanking back her hood, revealing Nebula looking worse for the wear, her clothes tattered and her hand was now just a low-tech metal claw. She glared at Gamora who glared right back down at her. Quill looked from one to the other, feeling the tension.

"Family reunion. Yaaaay." Quill cheered quietly.

"I understand she is your sister?" Ayesha commented.

"She's worth no more to me than the bounty due for her on Xandar." Gamora roughly picked Nebula up, started to leave pulling Nebula along with her.

"Our soldiers apprehended her attempting to steal the batteries. Do with her as you please." Ayesha tilted her chin up.

"Thank you, High Priestess Ayesha." Quill bowed slightly and started to leave falling into step with Rhea planning on trying to talk to her again.

"What is your heritage, Mr. Quill?" Ayesha asked. Quill turned back towards her, clearly uncomfortable with the question.

"My mother is from earth." Peter answered.

"And your father?" Ayesha asked.

"He's... not from Missouri, that's all I know." Quill told her and she stared at him as if she's eaten something foul.

"I see it within you, an unorthodox genealogy." She sneered at him. "A hybrid that seems particularly... reckless…" She looked from Quill to Rhea, her sneer growing. "…almost as reckless as your companions muddled DNA."

Quill tried not to let this affect him, but it does while Rhea looks downright pissed. She took a step forward about to unleash a demeaning rant that would have earned her dozens of death penalties, but Quill reached out grabbing her hand holding her back. Rocket didn't take it well, Rhea being talked down to like that so he grinned a huge, fake grin at Ayesha.

"You know, they told me you people were conceited douchebags. But that isn't true at all." Rocket turned to Quill and Rhea with a wink. Some of the Guardians shifting uncomfortably while Rhea had to bite her lip to hold in her laugh. "Oh, shit, I'm using my wrong eye again, aren't I?" He turned to Ayesha, who looked affronted. "I'm sorry. That was meant to be behind your back."

Drax yanked Rocket away, Gamora, Rhea, and Quill quickly leaving the palace. Drax and Rocket were a few paces behind them.

"Count yourself blessed they didn't kill you." Drax said to Rocket.

"You're telling me. You wanna buy some batteries?" Rocket grinned showing Drax his pilfered batteries hidden in his bag. Drax laughed loudly, Rocket quickly shushing him so Quill Rhea and Gamora don't hear him.

-0-

The Milano rose into the blue sunset over the Sovereign Space Dock filled with golden, capsule-shaped ships. Rocket worked the controls as they took off, turning on the comms as he did.

"Let's get baldy back to Xandar and retrieve that bounty!" Rocket called out over the comm.

Groot was lying in the rear window peering out the back as they pass overhead. On the cassette player awesome mix vol. 2 was playing. Quill still wore a perturbed look on his face as he took off his jacket, turning over what the Priestess had said not only about himself, but about Rhea as well. He didn't like seeing her hurt, especially when he was the one that hurt her.

"You all right?" Gamora was nearby, putting shackles on Nebula.

"That stuff about my father and what she said about Rhea. Who does she think she is?" Peter said shaking his head.

"I know you're sensitive about that and protective of Rhea." Gamora said.

"I'm not sensitive about it. I just don't know who he is." Peter told her. "And she didn't have any right to say that stuff about Rhea."

Gamora nodded looking at Peter contemplatively.

"What happened between you and Rhea?" Gamora sked bluntly.

"Nothing." Peter muttered shaking his head.

"Didn't seem like nothing…" Gamora said with a frown. "You really hurt her Peter."

Peter lowered his eyes in guilt, his jaw tensing, but before he could reply Rhea walked over stowing some gear away. Gamora turned focusing on taking care of her sister to give them some privacy.

"Sorry if it looked like I was flirting with her." Quill said to Rhea. "I wasn't."

"I don't care if you were." Rhea lied expertly, turning on her heel, walking past Gamora and Nebula on their way to the back of the ship, Rhea heading for her bunk.

"I think you do care. That's why I'm apologizing." Peter called after her.

"Apologize all you want, it's an explanation I want." Rhea paused in the doorway of the bunk she shared with Gamora. "Well?"

"I don't…" Peter shifted uncomfortably.

"Whatever." Rhea slammed the bunk door closed behind her, Peter starring somewhat longingly at the closed door.

"Rhea is not the one for you, Quill." Drax said. Peter startled upon seeing Drax directly beside him placing a hand over his heart. "There are two types of beings in the universe. Those who dance, and those who do not."

"Uh huh." Quill said not really paying him any mind.

"I first met my beloved at a war rally." Drax told him. "Everyone in the village flailed about, dancing. Except one woman. My Ovette. I knew immediately she was the one." Quill nodded, trying to be polite. "The most melodic song in the world could be playing, and she wouldn't even tap her foot. She wouldn't move a muscle. One might assume she was dead."

"Well, that is pretty hot, but…" Quill tried to interrupt.

"It would make my nether regions engorge…" Drax had to go and make it weird.

"All right, okay, fascinating, don't need to hear it." Quill quickly cut him off. "I get your point, but Rhea is a dancer and so am I."

"But she is not pathetic." Drax smiled kindly, clutches Quill's shoulder. "You just need to find a woman who is pathetic, like you."

"Thanks buddy." Peter said sarcastically.

"Do you need a hug?" Drax asked him.

"No, no I do not." Peter shook his head, but Drax hugged him anyway. "I thought I said no."

Drax gave Peter one last encouraging smile before he walked away leaving behind Quill who was pretty sure he had never felt worse than he did at that very moment.


	3. Chapter 3

Gamora moved from the living quarter up the stairs into the helm where Rocket and Quill were in the pilot seats. Soon after Rhea and Drax moved up from the back form the back as well to join the others, Rhea coming up to stand behind Rocket.

"So flashing warning lights, those are never good." Rhea commented, noticing the blinking bulb on the consol. Quill and Rocket quickly looked over their screens and the readouts, both surprised as what was following them if for different reasons.

"We got an armed Sovereign fleet, approaching from the rear." Quill told them.

"What do they want?" Rhea asked as Gamora took the center seat, using the rear view screen. Golden, capsule-shaped, Sovereign omni-crafts, with a video screen on front and a blaster on each side were getting closer.

"Why would they do that?!" Gamora questioned.

"Probably because Rocket stole some of their batteries." Drax said bluntly. Quill Rhea and Gamora's heads snap to Rocket, horrified and astounded.

"Dude." Rocket gawked at Drax, betrayed.

"Oh, right. He didn't steal one of those. I don't know why they're after us. What a mystery this is." Drax covered up, failing miserably. The Sovereign opened fire on them and Quill did his best to evade their blasts.

"What were you thinking?!" Quill snapped at Rocket.

"Dude, it was really easy to steal." Rocket told them.

"That's your defense?" Gamora scoffed.

"Come on. You saw how that high priestess talked down to us! I'm teaching her a lesson!" Rocket replied, still not bothered by the situation.

"Oh! I didn't realize your motivation was altruism. A shame the Sovereign have mistaken your intentions and are trying to kill us." Quill said mockingly.

"Exactly." Rocket nodded.

"He was being sarcastic Rocket." Rhea held onto the back of his seat as the swerved to avoid enemy fire.

"Oh no! You tricked me! You're supposed to use a sarcastic voice! Now I look foolish!" Rocket whined as Drax pointed at Rocket laughing hard.

"Shut up Drax! You knew! You should have told us!" Rhea admonished Drax who looked aghast then turned to Rocket.

"Did you tell him it was easy to steal?" Drax asked him.

"Are you kidding me?" Rocket asked in annoyance.

"What?" Drax was confused as to Rockets anger.

"You never listen to anything!" Rocket complained.

"That is not the point. How easy something is to steal does not mean it will be easy to get away with." Rhea gestured out with her hands. "None of you listens!"

"Can we please just put the bickering on hold until after we survive the massive space battle?!" Gamora bit out at all of them.

"Whoa." Rocket glanced at Quill, nodding back at Gamora and Rhea. "Somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"Do not try to bro down with me right now, dude. I will fricking punch you in your fricking face." Quill snapped at him.

"Real nice! Resorting to violence." Rocket complained.

"More incoming!" Quill warned as more ships flew in from the front.

"GOOD! I WANT TO KILL SOME GUYS!" Rocket cheered as they twisted and turned between the oncoming ships as Rocket fires at them, screaming. On the front of the Sovereign ships are the video images of the pilots.

"You're not killing anyone." Rhea tightened her hold on the seat. "Those ships are all remotely piloted."

The Milano's wing was struck and the emergency systems flash on.

"What's the closest habitable planet?" Quill asked. Gamora danced her fingers over the Universal Neural Teleportation Network, clicking through "jump points" until she found one.

"It's called Berhert." Gamora answered.

"How many jumps?" Quill asked.

"Only one. But the access point is 47 clicks away. And it's through that Quantum Asteroid Field over there." Gamora told him. Quill spots, to his side, a huge field of small glowing asteroids swirling in random patterns disappearing out of space and emerging again a few feet or yards away.

"Quill, to make it through that, you'd have to be the greatest pilot in the universe." Drax said as Quill zoomed toward the field with a smirk.

"Lucky for us –" Quill began.

"I am." Rocket barged in flipping the pilot controls between them so that he was the one piloting the ship, Quill gaping at him. The Milano dove into the field, swooping in and around the swirling atomized stones, barely missing them. The Sovereign ships followed after them, but there are not pilots on par with Rocket, so most of the ships were immediately pelted with stones and destroyed then Quill flipped the controls back, so he was piloting again. "What are you doing?!"

"I've been flying this rig since I was ten years old." Quill told him as he weaved through the field.

"I was cybernetically engineered to pilot a spacecraft!" Rocket flipped the controls back to him.

"You were cybernetically engineered to be a douchebag." Quill flipped the controls back to him.

"Stop it!" Rhea ordered as they were shaken by the unsteady driving.

"Quill, later on tonight you're gonna lay down in your bed and there's gonna be something squishy in your pillowcase and you're gonna be, like, 'what's this?' and it's gonna be because I put a turd in there." Rocket flipped the switch back.

"You put your turd in my bed, I shave you." Quill glared.

"Oh it won't be my turd, it will be Drax's." Rocket corrected him. Drax laughed cheerfully, Rhea and Gamora glanced at him in confusion.

"I have famously huge turds." Drax told them all proudly.

"We're about to die, and this is what we're discussing?" Gamora questioned.

"Guys, can we get through the asteroids first then you can discuss Drax's bodily functions as much as you want." Rhea reasoned with them, just wanting to get out of this all alive.

"They raise havoc with the pipes. That's why I do all the plumbing. I take responsibility for my actions. Unlike some people..." Drax eyed baby Groot.

"Groot, he's right, you have to start aiming inside the box." Quill agreed and Groot looked ashamed.

"Stop doing that." Rhea yelled as she almost lost her footing when Quill flipped the controls back.

Rocket switched it back.

Quill switched it back.

They neared the end of the Asteroid Field when both went to switch it at the same time when suddenly a large asteroid smashed through the stern of the Milano. A chunk of the rear of the Milano was taken out completely and Nebula was sucked toward the hole, but, fortunately, her arms were shackled to a post, so she didn't fly out though her face and body were covered with frost.

Everything flew around the space craft, rushing through the hole. Groot was sent flying through the air, but Peter caught him and tossed him back to Drax. Rhea leaned over punching in a code causing a protective energy shield to slide up in front of the hole and everyone caught their breath in relief.

"Idiots!" Nebula yelled as she collapsed to the floor.

"Well, that's what you get when Quill flies." Rocket said.

"There's still a Sovereign craft behind us!" Gamora said as the electronics flickered.

"Our weapons are down!" Quill said.

"Twenty clicks to the jump." Gamora told them as another part of the wing was taken out by the last pilot causing the Milano to tremble. Drax turned and started to climb down into the living area.

"Where's he going?" Quill questioned.

"I'll find out." Rhea followed.

"Be careful." Quill called out.

"Yes dad." Rhea said sarcastically.

"Seriously Rhea, be careful." Quill emphasized and Rocket snickered as he mocked him making kissy faces. "Would you stop that? I'm just…just being a good captain…concerned about the crew."

Nebula saw the bowl of yaro root had spilled in front of her and reached for a piece, but was kicked out of her grasp. She looked up to see Drax, grabbing a cable on a spool attached to the wall.

"It's not ripe." Drax hooked the cable to his belt.

A folder on the wall read spacesuits for emergency and, below that, in Rocket's scrawl were the words 'or for fun'. Drax pulled a small disk from the folder and slapped it between his shoulder blades. A shimmery sheath covered his entire body, a thin force-field spacesuit.

"Drax, if I told you this was a horrible idea, would you do it anyway?" Rhea asked as she walked over to him.

"Yes." Drax replied.

"Ok, have fun." Rhea nodded, knowing he was going to do what he wanted either way.

"Thank you, this will be most enjoyable." Drax grinned happily and a little bit crazy as well as he grabbed a huge rifle.

"Fifteen clicks." Gamora watched the map leading to the jump point. Another blast from the Sovereign craft hit them hard.

"Ready?" Rhea asked.

"I am." Drax nodded in excitement.

Rhea punched some buttons on the wall bringing down another shield between Drax with herself and Nebula on the other side. The first shield opened up exposing Drax to space allowing him to jump out of the back of the ship. Drax smiled as the cable unspooled and snapping taunt when it reached its end dragging Drax haphazardly by the Milano like a water sled on a boat.

"Ten clicks." Gamora announced, the jump point got closer. The sovereign ship shot at Drax, missing him by mere inches. Drax brought the sight to his eye and aimed at the ship.

"Die, spaceship." Drax shot with a wild laugh blasting the sovereign ship as Quill and Rocket leave the asteroid field, it seemed for a moment they're scot-free.

"Five clicks!" Gamora said then dozens of omnicrafts pull around them on both sides.

"Son-of-a-! They went around the field!" Quill's eyes widened and it looked like the end of the road for them all when suddenly there was a blinding light and all of the crafts were destroyed.

"What is that?!" Rocket saw a bright white light emanating from an oval shaped spacecraft.

"Doesn't matter! That's the jump point! GO! GO!" Quill saw the flickering framework of a jump point. As they were about to reach the jump point, Rocket saw a man standing casually atop the oval ship, light bursting through his body and into the craft, the source of the explosion.

"It's a guy." Rocket muttered.

Quill doesn't see the man as the Milano disappeared into the jump point. The ship popped into another part of space directly above an earthlike planet. Because the ship was in such bad shape, parts of it started to tear off and spiral away as it entered the new atmosphere. Gamora saw Drax being dragged in the rearview monitor with Rhea holding onto the rope that he is strapped to and the ship, the spool having come loose during the jump.

"Oh my God." Gamora jumped to her feet rushing to the back of the ship.

Drax whipped wildly out of the back of the ship still laughing while Rhea struggled to hold on to both him and the ship. Quill saw a green forest approaching at an unbelievably fast pace. He turned toward the back, but only Baby Groot was there sitting alone, happily munching on candies as if he was watching a movie.

"Groot, put on your seat belt!" Quill ordered. "You know Rhea doesn't like you flying without one."

Rhea started to lose her grip on the ship, which would have left Drax and herself in the upper reaches of the planet's atmosphere, but Gamora has made it downstairs grabbing onto Rhea with one hand while clutching onto a secure part of the ship with her other, nearly wrenching herself apart.

"Prepare for a really bad…" Quill started to warn when the Milano hit the trees barreling over them causing them to part, flatten, and swat at the windshield. Out back, Gamora held tight despite searing pain as does Rhea, as Drax bounces violently off the trees.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Drax called out in pain and, eventually, the Milano came to an abrupt stop. Drax pushed himself up in the dirt chuckling happily. He glanced back at Gamora and Rhea like the madman he was. "That was awesome."

"Sure, yeah, okay, whatever…" Rhea gasped out bracing her hands on her knees as Gamora just nodded. "Thanks for the save Gamora."

"You're welcome." Gamora nodded, hands on her hips.

"Ready to go tear them a new one?" Rhea stood up straight having caught her breath.

"Oh yes." Gamora ground out turning on her heal moving back to the ship, Rhea right behind her.

The Milano was a smoking battered wreck, many pieces missing from the hall, and the wings were ripped to shreds. They had all gathered at the back of the ship, the male members with their head hanging low as Rhea and Gamora bore down on them, Nebula watching from where she was still shackled.

"Either one of you could have gotten us through that field, if you had flown with what's between your ears instead of what's between your legs!" Gamora ranted as she paced.

"If what's between my legs had a hand on it, I guarantee I could have landed this ship." Quill mumbled.

"It's not funny, Peter. We almost died." Rhea glared down at him, her arms crossed. "Because of your arrogance."

"More like because he stole Anulax batteries!" Quill blamed Rocket.

"They're called Harbulary batteries." Drax corrected him.

"No, they're not!" Quill snapped.

"You know why I did it, Star-Munch?" Rocket said, but Quill looked away not answering. "Do you?"

"I'm not going to answer to 'StarMunch.'" Quill fumed.

"I DID IT BECAUSE I WANTED TO." Rocket roared.

"Dick." Quill insulted Rocket.

"What are we even talking about this for? We just had a little man save us by blowing up fifty ships!" Rocket told them.

"How little?" Drax asked.

"Like this." Rocket showed him with his finger and thumb.

"A little one-inch man saved us?" Gamora eyed him.

"I can't even with this…depth perception Rocket, depth perception…" Rhea ran her hands through her hair.

"Well, if he got closer I'm sure he'd be much larger." Rocket shrugged.

"That's what depth perception is." Rhea passed her hand over her face.

"That's how eyes work, you stupid raccoon." Quill added.

"Don't call me a raccoon!" Rocket snarled at Quill.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I meant to say 'trash panda.'" Quill corrected himself sarcastically.

"Is that better?" Rocket paused, unsure, looking at Drax.

"I don't know." Drax shrugged.

"No, it's worse." Quill laughed.

"YOU SON-OF-A-!" Rocket leapt, snapping at Quill.

"Would the two of you cut it out, you're giving me a freaking head ache." Rhea tore Rocket off of Quill holding him back when Nebula looked up into the sky.

"Someone followed you through the jump point." Nebula alerted them as a huge spaceship hovered overhead. The Guardians all cocked their weapons falling back to back in a tight formation. "Set me free." Nebula said to Gamora. "You'll need my help."

"I'm not a fool, Nebula." Gamora refused.

"You're a fool if you deprive yourself a hand in combat." Nebula argued.

"You'll attack me the moment I let you go." Gamora countered.

"No, I won't." Nebula mumbled unconvincingly.

"That was the worst lie attempt I have ever heard." Rhea said as her eyes started to glow.

"You'd think an evil supervillain would learn how to properly lie." Quill commented.

"I bet it's the one-inch man!" Drax said.

"Pretty big ship for a one inch tall man." Rhea said sarcastically.

"You are right, maybe there are more inside than just one." Drax agreed while Rhea just shook her head.

The ship landed crushing all of the trees around it and a hatch opened on its side. An adventurous, outer space frontiersman steps forward. He had grown hardened and haggard over the years, but he was definitely the mysterious man that destroyed the ships. Mantis, a woman with antennae, emerges behind him.

"After all these years, I've found you." The man smiled brightly.

"Who the hell are you?" Quill asked.

"I figured my rugged good looks would make that obvious. My name's Ego. And I'm your Dad, Peter." Ego told them, none of them more shocked then Peter. Ego invited them to take a seat, Rhea starting a fire with the wave of her hand, before he started to tell them his story. "When your mother passed away, I hired Yondu to pick you up." Ego explained to Peter. "I would have done so myself, but I was in the midst of an outlandish adventure at the time, battling demonic forces to save this dimension or some such nonsense - I can't quite recall, it all bleeds together after awhile. But instead of returning you, Yondu kept you. I have no clue as to why."

"Because I was a skinny kid who could squeeze into places adults couldn't, making thieving easier." Peter told him.

"I've been trying to track you down ever since." Ego said.

"I thought Yondu was your father." Drax commented.

"What?" Quill eyed him as Drax stared at him. "We've been together all this time and you thought Yondu was my actual, blood relative?"

"You look exactly alike." Drax shrugged.

"One's blue." Rocket said.

"He wasn't my father. Yondu was the guy who abducted me. He'd beat the crap out of me so I'd learn how to fight and he kept me in terror threatening to eat me." Peter complained.

"Eat you?!" Ego echoed.

"Yes." Quill nodded.

"That son-of-a-bitch." Ego shook his head.

"How'd you locate us now?" Rhea asked with a raised brow.

"Even where I reside, out past the edge of what's known, we've heard tell of the man they call StarLord." Ego stood, handing his dish to Rhea who looked down at it with a raised eyebrow. "Say we head out that way now? Your associates are welcome, even that triangle-faced monkey there." Rocket, self-conscious, felt his nose. "I promise you, it's like no place you've ever seen. And there I can explain your very special heritage, and finally be the father I've always wanted to be." He seemed almost teary eyed. "'Scuse me. I gotta take a whizz."

"Not buying it." Quill turned to Rhea once Ego was gone.

"Peter, we need to take a walk." Rhea said softly taking his hand and leading him away from the group.

Ego was whistling "BRANDY" and peeing into the bushes not too far off. Mantis looked at Drax with a grin or at least her best attempt at grinning which was quite creepy.

"I am Mantis." She introduced herself.

"What are you doing?" Drax asked.

"Smiling. I hear it is the thing to do to make people like you." Mantis said.

"Not if you do it like that." Drax told her.

"Oh." Mantis stopped smiling. "I was raised alone on Ego's planet. I do not understand the intricacies of social interaction." She pointed at Rocket. "Can I pet your puppy? It is adorable."

"Yes..." Drax said mischievously.

"I wouldn't…" Gamora tried to warn her, but it was too late. Mantis stroked the top of Rockets head: startled, he swirled around on her and snapped viciously.

"AHH!" Mantis pulled back her hand while Drax laughed, heartily.

"That's called a practical joke!" He chuckled loudly and Mantis giggled.

"I liked it very much!" Mantis said as they both laughed together. Nebula shakes her head with disbelief while Gamora just rolled her eyes.

-0-

Quill and Rhea walked through the forest, Peter happy that Rhea was holding his hand, he had missed it. They stopped in a private area away from the others, but they could still see the campfire flickering through the trees beyond them.

"Give me a break! After all this time, and he just expects to be my Dad all of the sudden!" Quill grumbled. "And he didn't even bring up Taylor. If he wanted to get me he must have wanted her to so why didn't Yondu take the both of us?"

"I hear you." Rhea nodded.

"I mean, this could be a trap, the Kree purists, the Ravagers, now the Sovereign…" Quill listed off. "…they all want us dead."

"I know, but…" Rhea said gently.

"But what?" Quill asked starring down at her.

"What was that story you told me about David Hasselhoff? And as a child you carried his picture in your pocket, and you told the other children he was your father, but he was out of town…" Rhea reminded him.

"Shooting Knight Rider or touring with his band in Germany." Peter said in embarrassment. "Why are you bringing this up now? I was drunk when I told you that."

"I love that story." Rhea smiled softly up at him.

"I don't. It's just sad! I was so sad because I'd see the other kids off playing catch with their dads, and I wanted that, more than anything in the world." Peter said looked away. Rhea took his other hand in hers, ducking her head so that she caught his gaze again.

"My point is, maybe this man is your Hasselhoff. I know it's a long shot. But I lost my parents and my family. I'd give anything..." Rhea trailed off sadly, taking a deep breath. Quill nodded grudgingly, but his gaze softened as he rubbed the back of her hands with his thumbs comfortingly. "Plus if he ends up being evil, we'll just kill him."

"This mean you're not angry with me anymore." Quill chuckled as Rhea smiled a bit up at him.

"Less angry, still want an explanation." Rhea tilted her head to the side.

"When this is over, I'll explain, I promise." Quill shuffled a bit, but Rhea just raised a brow. "I swear on my mix tapes."

"Ok." Rhea's eyes widened in surprise, knowing how much they meant to him as they were an extension of his mother. Peter bent down pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before leading her back to camp.

-0-

Inside the Milano, "THE CHAIN" BY FLEETWOOD MAC played on the cassette player. While Rocket was working on the ship using some sort of machine that seemed to recreate pieces of the ship instantly.

"You're leaving me with that fox?!" Nebula said angrily as Rocket seemingly ignored her, continuing to solder the ship back together.

"He's not a fox." Gamora glanced at Rocket as she grabbed her luggage. "Shoot her if she does anything suspicious. Or if you feel like it."

Rocket grunts back his reply glancing over at Rhea who was kneeling next to a sad Baby Groot holding his small hand.

"It will just be a couple days. We'll be back before Rocket's finished fixing the ship." Rhea placed a gentle kiss on the top of his head before letting go. Rocket saw that Groot was about to cry as Drax and Quill came from the back of the ship.

"What about your spool of songs?" Drax asked him.

"I have clones." Quill told him.

"What if the Sovereign come?" Drax asked.

"There's no way for them to know they're here." Peter replied confidently.

"I am uncertain about parting ways." Draxs brows furrowed.

"You're like an old woman." Peter complained.

"Because I am wise?" Drax perked up. Quill didn't reply, instead he turned to Rocket as Drax and Gamora head toward Ego's ship. He started to say something nice, perhaps something conciliatory, but Rocket spoke before he could.

"Hope daddy isn't as big of a dick as you, orphan boy." Rocket snipped.

"So what's your goal here? To get everyone to hate you? 'Cause it's working." Quill just shook his head before turning back around with Gamora and Drax and walked away. Rocket watched as they left with a concerned and sad look.

"Rocket…" Rhea started when she saw his concern.

"Aren't you supposed to be gone yet?" Rocket snapped at her.

"We've been friends a long time Rocket…." Rhea started, her hands gripping into fists when she heard him scoff. "…and I don't know why you're acting like this, but it's hurting me." Rhea went on ignoring his scoff. "I just hope that whatever your problem is it's worth losing everyone who cares about you."

Rhea left the ship before Rocket could reply, not that he would have. He stopped working, his head hanging low as he thought over what Rhea had said.

-0-

Quill, Rhea, Drax, and Gamora approached the oval ship and the side opened up before them where Ego, with Mantis, were waiting inside. Ego smiled and clasped his hand on Quill as he entered, Peter stopping short to ask Ego the question he'd really been thinking about.

"What about Taylor?" Quill asked and for a moment Ego looked confused, but quickly recovered. "Yondu left her on earth, said he didn't want a winey girly around, were you able to find her?"

"Ah yes, Taylor…" Ego looked down sadly, taking a moment to gather himself. "I hate to tell you this Peter, but when I went to earth to look for you after Yondu did return with you both…she'd already passed away, the same illness that took your mother."

"She's dead…" Peter breathed out, tears burning his eyes.

"I'm sorry Peter." Ego said softly, moving away from Peter as if burdened deeply.

Quill sat back against the wall, alone, and deeply saddened by the news of his sister's death. He looked across the way at a sleep chamber, where Mantis helped Ego lay down on a slab. She placed her hand on his forehead: her antennae lit up and he drifted off to sleep. Quill took a small, folded piece of paper out of his pocket, the photo of Hasselhoff. He looked at it, then looked at Ego, his eyes filling with cautious hope.

Then he took out the photo of himself with his mom and sister smiling sadly as he remembered all the times Taylor backed up the story of their father being Hasselhoff. He regretted so much not going back to earth to see her, but in a heart wrenching way was also glad he had not had to watch her pass away like they had their mother.

"Are you ok?" Rhea set down next to him.

"Yeah…" Peter sighed, swiping away at some tears.

"I am so sorry Peter." Rhea took his hand into hers.

"She's with mom now." Peter gripped her hand. "I know she's happy now." Peter sighed. "I just…I'm sad that she died, but…I'm glad that I didn't see it happen. I just don't think I could face it after what happened to my mom." Peter shook his head. "How messed up is that?"

"Not at all." Rhea consoled him. "It's bad enough to lose a loved one let alone see it happen before your eyes and not be able to stop it."

"Thanks Rhea." Peter squeezed her hand.

Rhea stayed with him a she mourned for his sister while Ego's ship took off into the air, blocking out the sun, and quickly leaving the planet behind. The Orb moved through a rainbowish funnel of space and time; technology beyond what even the Guardians knew.


	4. Chapter 4

Quill and Drax were drinking tea in what seemed to be the living quarters of the ship a few hours into the trip. Drax was laughing with Mantis as Quill chuckled along still holding onto Rhea's hand. Rhea could see he was still depressed about learning of his sister's demise, but at the same time excited about his father. She knew he was doing everything he could to try and not think about it too hard.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" Quill looked to Mantis.

"Oh, no one has ever asked me a personal question!" Mantis leaned forward interested in what Peter was going to ask.

"The antennae, what are they for?" Peter asked.

"Their purpose?" Mantis asked as Gamora entered, pouring herself some tea.

"Yes, Quill and I have a bet." Drax nodded.

"You're not supposed to say that." Quill groaned.

"I say that if you are about to go through a doorway that is too low, your antennae will feel this, and stop you from being decapitated." Drax went on ignoring Peter.

"Just making clear - if it's anything else - any other answer - I win." Peter said. Gamora smiled, warmed by the good-natured, by-now-familiar bickering between Quill and Drax. She was also glad to see Peter and Rhea close again, the last few weeks had been rough since their fight.

"They are not for feeling doorways." Mantis giggled.

"Damn." Drax said in a bummed voice. "I just lost my entire life's savings."

"Three pairs of pants." Quill said.

"I think they have something to do with my empathic abilities." Mantis told them.

"Empathic?" Rhea echoed. "Like you can see emotional auras or something?"

"If I touch someone I can feel their feelings." Mantis corrected her.

"You read minds?" Quill asked.

"No. Telepaths know thoughts." Mantis replied. "Empaths feel feelings. Emotions." She looked at Quill. "May I?" Quill doesn't stop her. "If you could let go." Mantis looked to Rhea. "When beings are holding hand their get both of their emotions, it is quite confusing."

"Ok." Rhea let go of Peter and Mantis, cautiously, touched him. Her hand quivered as his emotions shoot through her and her antennae alight.

"You feel love." Mantis said, moved by what she was feeling.

"Yeah, I guess, yeah, I have sort of a general, unselfish love for everyone." Peter nodded along.

"No, romantic, sexual love." Mantis replied.

"No, I um…I…." Peter shook his head as the others watched in amusement.

"For her." Mantis pointed at Rhea who blushed, but still smiled as Peter turned red trying to stutter out a reply. "But there is also fear…that something will go wrong…" Mantis turned to look as Rhea still holding on to Peter. "He does not wish to lose you…he thinks that he's not good enough for a Princess let alone a goddess…"

"Princess? Goddess?" Rhea raised a brow.

"Ok, that's enough." Peter quickly pulled away.

"She just told everyone your deepest, darkest secret, Quill! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Drax laughed uproariously.

"What the hell, dude? That's a total overreaction." Peter grumbled.

"DO ME! DO ME!" Drax slapped his chest and Mantis touched him grinning brightly.

"I have never felt such humor!" She started giggling and before long both she and Drax were laughing hysterically.

"You got to be kidding me." Quill pouted as Drax and Mantis both point at him, clutching onto each other and falling over with laughter at Quill humiliation. "That's so incredibly uncool."

Rhea giggled getting an exasperated look from Peter, but also turned over this new information in her head planning on confronting Peter about it when the time was better. Mantis wiped the tears from her eyes, composing herself and went to touch Gamora, who grabbed her wrist though her clothes.

"Touch me. And the only thing you're going to feel is a broken jaw." Gamora warned and Mantis smiled, nodding, backed away.

"I can also alter emotions, to some extent." Mantis told them.

"Like what?" Rhea asked.

"If I touch someone who is sad I can ease them into contentment, for a short while. I can make a stubborn person compliant." Mantis explained then gestured to Ego. "But I mostly use it to help my Master sleep. He lies awake at night, thinking about his progeny."

Quill looked at her, struck by this revelation, the cautious hope of a father figure growing in his heart.

"Do one of those on me!" Drax said in excitement. Mantis touched him and he grinned expectantly.

"Sleep." Mantis said softly. Drax collapsed, instantly asleep. Mantis smiled at the others, hoping she had pleased. Quill, Rhea, and Gamora looked at Drax who was snoring quite loudly in surprise.

"Is that real?" Gamora asked.

"It's kind of like someone put a baby's head on a big, muscular body, isn't it?" Peter commented.

"It's kind of disturbing." Rhea tilted her head to the side.

-0-

Ego's ship arrived at a bold red planet, twisting in front of an enormous yellow sun, so close it seems like the sun was about to devour it. Mantis set her hand on Ego's forehead, waking him from his slumber. The ship landed in a spaceport and organically joins the spot where had landed, strands of material actually linking up with the landing pad itself.

From the front of the craft, a floating tram emerges, with Ego, Mantis, Rhea, Quill, Gamora, and Drax. As the tram glided toward its destination, the Guardians were overwhelmed by transcendentally splendid surroundings. The plant life was colorful and alien with tall, twisting obelisks that seemed to have no function other than for beauty itself.

"Welcome, friends, to my world." Ego welcomed them.

"Wow. You have your own planet?" Peter was astonished.

"But a trifle, no larger than your earth's moon." Ego grinned.

"Humility. I like it." Drax commented. "I too, am extraordinarily humble."

Rhea and Gamora smiled at the wonder of that strange almost dreamlike world. Multicolored mercurial clumps floated by and Drax poked one causing it to burst into dozed of vibrant hues. Seeing this Rhea reached up taking hold of one gently in her hands, marveling at how it moved when she released it.

"It's beautiful." Peter said gazed ahead of them loomed where an astounding palace atop a large mountain. The tram came to a stop and they stepped off it walking toward the palace, Ego stopping beside a large fountain.

"Peter, consider this a token of a father's pride." Ego motioned and the water of the fountain fell away to reveal a giant statue of Star-Lord. Quill stood heroically, with foolish-looking Guardians kneeling around him worshipfully. "A memorial to the War Over Xandar, when you single-handedly saved the galaxy."

"Single-handedly?" Gamora questioned sarcastically.

"Whoa. It's perfect." Peter said in awe.

"You've got to be kidding." Rhea muttered as she eyed the scantily clad forms of herself and Gamora clinging to Quills legs.

"Why am I dead? Why did you all kill me?!" Drax snapped angrily pointing to the dead man.

"That's Ronan. That's you." Gamora pointed to Drax who was sitting on Quill's shoulder, with a raccoon tail.

"When was I that tiny?" Drax asked as Gamora shook her head in disbelief.

"You were never that tiny Drax." Rhea told him.

"Of course I was, look at me." He pointed to the statue again and Rhea felt her eye twitch.

"You own a planet and can destroy two dozen spaceships without a suit." Gamora asked as they stepped past the statue and onto the steps approaching the palace. "What are you, exactly?"

"I'm what they call a Celestial, sweetheart." Ego answered causing the Guardians to stop behind him, astounded.

"A Celestial. Like a... god?" Peter asked glancing at Rhea out of the corner of his eye.

"Small 'g', son. At least on the days I'm feeling humble as Drax." Ego laughed and walked up the stairs with the others following. Ego sauntered in with Quill, Rhea, Gamora, Drax, and Mantis, through the enormous open doors, toward huge dioramas that lined either side of the palace. "This form you see before you is only an extension of who I truly am. I don't know where I came from, exactly." The dioramas around them began to animate: In the first, a flickering brain composed of polychromatic light floats in space. "The first thing I remember is flickering, adrift in the cosmos - utterly and entirely alone." The flickering brain pulled cosmic dust and rocks into itself, ingesting them, growing. "I fed on the matter around me like plankton. I grew smarter and stronger." A hard metal shell formed around the brain, with channels running through it for his energy to flow. "I formed a sheath to protect myself from the elements." Ego continued developing outward from the shell, growing the planet, then its beautiful landscapes and structures. "And continued building from there, layer by layer, the very planet you walk on now. I built the spires reaching up to the sky and the tunnels burrowing into its depths."

"Wow." Peter breathed out.

"But I was no ant to be fulfilled solely by labor. I wanted more. I desired... meaning." Ego said and in the core shell - the Self Chamber - the flickering brain floats, alone, perhaps sad. "There must be some life out there in the universe besides just me, I thought, and I set myself to task with finding it." The brain grew a skeletal framework of light up from the self chamber and to the surface of the planet. He pulled molecules around this shape to create his "human" self. "I created what I imagined biological life might be like, down to the most minute detail."

"Did you make a penis?" Drax asked suddenly getting disgusted looks from everyone.

"Dude." Peter made a face.

"If he's a planet, how did he make a baby with your mother? He would smush her." Drax looked confused.

"I don't need to hear about how my parents, you know…" Peters face was burning.

"Why? My father would tell me the story of impregnating my mother every winter solstice." Drax said.

"That's disgusting." Peter shook his head.

"It was beautiful. You earthers have hang-ups." Drax replied.

"Yes, Drax, I've got a penis." Ego stepped in.

"Oh my God." Peter hung his head.

"It's not half bad. I've also got pain receptors, a digestive system, and all the accompanying junk. I wanted to experience what it truly meant to be human as I set out amongst the stars." Ego went on and in another diorama, Ego explored various uninhabited and barren planets. "I visited thousands of planets over thousands of years, one barren husk after the next until I found what I sought..." Ego starred down at a cute alien child. "Life. I was not alone in this universe after all." Ego reminisced seeming both wistful and a touch sad.

"When did you meet my mother?" Peter asked.

"Not long after." Ego turned toward the last set of dioramas. They showed Meredith and Ego kissing and Ego with his hand on Meredith's pregnant belly. "It was with Meredith that I experienced love for the first time. I called her my river lily. And from that love, Peter, you."

In the final diorama was the belly inside the womb, a very young Peter Quill, a fetus, himself encased in light. Quill looked up in amazement - this story is the story of himself and Ego gazed at Quill with adoration, but then Peter looked confused.

"Where's Taylor?" Peter asked glancing at Ego who waved his hand back toward the diorama.

"Right there." He said, the fetus of Quill rotating to reveal another fetus also incased in light. "My little princess, I only wished I had gotten to her before…" Ego shook his head sadly, Peter's face also falling in grief. "I searched for you both for so long. When I heard a man from earth held an Infinity Stone in his hand without dying, I knew you must be the son of the woman I loved and at least I had not lost all of my Meredith."

Ego put his hand on Quill and Peter wanted to believe, but he can't quite let it go.

"If you loved her why did you leave her?" Peter asked. Ego once again looked sad and asked for a moment alone with Peter leading him out into the palace courtyard.

-0-

Quill looked up at a giant sculpture of his mother who had her hand resting on the head of smaller statue of a little girl no more than twelve. He was saddened to learn that his sister had passed away at such a young age, tears burning in his eyes. Ego was standing behind him, watching him, sadly as he gave him a moment.

"My mother told everyone my father was from the stars." Quill turned to look at his father, somewhat accusatory. "She had brain cancer - so everyone thought she was delusional."

"Peter…" Ego looked sad, ashamed.

"Listen. I'd love to believe all of this, I really would - but you left the most wonderful woman ever, to die alone! And you tell me my sister died of the same cancer when she was still just a kid." Peter said in a strained voice.

"I didn't want to leave your mother, Peter." Ego had tears in his eyes. "But if I don't return regularly to this planet, and the light within, this form will wither and perish…"

"So why didn't you come back?! Why'd you send Yondu, a criminal, of all people, to fetch me?!" Peter demanded.

"I loved your mother, Peter! I couldn't stand to set foot on an earth where she wasn't living!" Ego said painfully. "And then when I did go back only to learn that the daughter I never got to meet was dead as well and I had no way to find you…you can't imagine what that's like!"

"I know exactly what that's like! I had to watch her die! And Taylor…I never…" Peter grit his teeth as Ego stopped, seeming to hear his son.

"Over the millions and millions of years of my existence I have made many mistakes, Peter." Ego reached out touching him. "But you're not one of them. Please give me the chance to be the father she would want me to be." Quill looked at him, vulnerable. "There are so many things I need to teach you. This planet, and the light within... they are a part of you."

"What do you mean?" Quill asked.

"Give me your hands, son." Ego took his hands in his own, gently, putting them in the correct position. "Here. Hold them like that." Quill held his hands apart and Ego steps back, holding his hands in the same way. "Now close your eyes and concentrate. Take your brain to the center of the planet." Quill concentrated holding out his hand and a white light emanated from it. "Yes! Yes!"

"Whoa." Peter gasped as the light disappeared as quickly as it had come.

"Yes, yes - it's okay. Just relax. Concentrate. You can do it. Bring it back." Ego instructed excitedly. Quill concentrated and the light, once again, burst up from the palms of his hands. "Yes, yes, now - shape it…" Ego showed him, pulling in the molecules around him, so that the light itself formed into the shape of a ball. "Feel the energy." Peter tried to pull molecules into the ball and, little by little, they came, and the ball glowed brighter. "Yes." Quill laughed and Ego was joyous, almost looking as if he was going to break down in tears. "You're home, Peter." Ego cupped his hands. "Here."

Quill, smiling, threw him the ball. Ego laughed catching the ball and inspecting the cosmic ball of light before throwing it back to Quill. Peter laughed, catching it, and threw it back. Ego moved back further as they continued tossing the ball back and forth there, a friendly father and son game of catch in the middle of a palace courtyard.

-0-

Drax and Mantis were sitting on the front steps of the palace soaking in the sun and gazing at the lush, flowing hills that surrounded them.

"How did you get here?" Drax asked.

"Ego found me in my larva state, orphaned on my home world." Mantis told him. "He raised me by hand, and kept me as his own."

"So you're a pet?" Drax surmised.

"I suppose." Mantis nodded.

"People usually want cute pets. Why would Ego want a hideous one?" Drax questioned.

"I am hideous?" Mantis asked.

"You're horrifying to look at, yes." Drax nodded and Mantis seemed sad about this. Drax amazingly enough seemed to notice this and felt bad for his earlier statement even though it was quite true to him. "But it is a good thing."

"Oh?" Mantis gazed at him.

"When you are ugly and someone loves you, you know they love you for who you are. Beautiful people never know who to trust." Drax told her.

"Well, then I am certainly grateful to be ugly!" Mantis smiled and looked thoughtful for a moment. "Poor Gamora and Rhea. They can never trust anyone."

Drax nodded in agreement before starring out at spattered patches of water which reflected the colorful landscape around them.

"Those pools remind me of a time I took my daughter to visit the Forgotten Lakes on my home world." Drax told Mantis. "She was like you."

"Disgusting?" Mantis asked.

"Innocent." Drax corrected her starring out at them without expression. Slowly, Mantis touched his shoulder and, as she did, tears instantly flowed down her cheeks. She turned her gaze to stare out over the hills with Drax feeling the sadness together: she cried while he was stoic.

"I have never met anyone like you, or your friends. You are filled with such... love. It is a thing I did not know existed, not like this, and I think... I think it may be the very finest of all things. It both hurts and soothes the heart." Mantis looked at Drax looking as though there was something she wanted to say, but she was torn. "Drax, there is something I must tell…"

"What's going on?" Gamora asked as she and Rhea walked up to Drax and Mantis. Drax and Mantis turned to see them behind them.

"I am learning many things. Like I am a pet and ugly." Mantis smiled proudly.

"You're not ugly." Gamora told her, shooting a glare at Drax.

"Drax." Rhea said admonishingly. Drax, confused, pointed at Mantis, as if her ugliness proved itself. "Drax, seriously? You are beyond rude."

"Mantis, can you show us where we'll be staying? I'm getting eye-strain in this place." Gamora spoke up before Drax could reply. Mantis nodded yes and stood leading them back into the palace, the sun setting behind them.

"Why are there no other beings on this planet?" Gamora asked glancing around.

"The planet IS Ego." Mantis told her. "A dog would not invite a flea to live on his back."

"And you're not a flea?" Rhea raised one of her brows.

"I'm a flea with a purpose. I help him sleep." Mantis said. Gamora turned around to face Mantis, cutting her off.

"What were you about to say to Drax before Rhea and I walked out?" Gamora questioned and Mantis looked around, worried.

"Nothing." Mantis said quickly as Rhea, Gamora, and Drax share a look.

"Mantis, why are you so scarred?" Rhea eyed the young woman.

"I am not frightened of anything I assure you." Mantis moved on. "Your quarters are this way."


	5. Chapter 5

The yellow sun curved slowly west to east over the magnificent landscape. Quill, on the veranda to his room was gazing out at the beauty. His Walkman was connected to small, jerry-rigged speakers nearby, playing Sam Cooke Bring it on Home to me.

"So I guess this could all be mine someday." Peter commented, but Rhea who had come looking for him after Mantis had left them wasn't paying attention. She was shaking her communications device, which had no reception.

"Rocket? Rocket, you there? Dammit." Rhea glared at the device. Quill came up behind her wrapping his arms around her, his hands skimming her waist making her shudder. He moved from side to side, pressing his hands into her hips so she was swaying with him. "What are you doing, Peter?"

"Dance with me." Peter nuzzled against her ear.

"No. I'm not…" Rhea blushed, cursing Peter and his knowledge of her sensitive earlobes. He knew he could make her do almost anything when he messed with them.

"Come on. This is Sam Cooke, one of the greatest Earth singers of all time." Peter took the comm and tossed it aside as he turned her around. "And one of your favorites as I recall."

Rhea let out a playful, exasperated sigh, but started dancing with him, a smile tugging at her lips. He took one of her hands so it laid at the base of his neck, the other secure in his grasp. Quill smiled down at her warmly and Rhea smiled back up at him. They had both missed this so much, being in each other's arms and dancing to old earth music. Peter gently twirled her and brought her back in as they continued to move around the veranda.

"Pete…what happened to us?" Rhea asked gazing up at him with furrowed brows, but Peter didn't answer, choosing to look away. "Mantis said you were afraid, what are you afraid of Pete?" Peter looked uncomfortable. "You did say we would talk about it."

"It's not important." Peter shook his head.

"Not important?" Rhea echoed in hurt pulling herself out of his arms. "So it was what? Just a fling to you."

"Rhea…" Peter tried.

"No, it's fine, forget it." Rhea shook her head. "This isn't even what we should discussing right now." Rhea crossed her arms over her chest and it was killing Peter to see how sad she looked. "Gamora and I were talking earlier, something about this place doesn't feel right to either of us."

"What are you talking about?" Peter demanded, getting defensive. "You were the one who wanted me to come here!"

"That girl, Mantis." Rhea walked back into his sleeping quarters, picking back up the comm. "She's afraid of something."

"Why are you trying to take this from me?" Quill followed her stopping in the doorway, staring at her, hurt and frustrated.

"I'm not…" Rhea tried.

"He's my father. He's blood…" Peter said.

"You had blood on earth. You never wanted to return there." Rhea pointed out, wishing she could take it back almost immediately, but she was tired of always feeling like the hurt one.

"Again - you made me come here!" Peter was getting angry at her for bringing that up. "And Earth?! Earth is the place my mother died in front of me and my sister died without me."

"No, it's because that's real, and this is a fantasy." Rhea was getting angry as well.

"This is real. I'm only half human, remember?" Peter pointed out.

"Well welcome to the club." Rhea said sarcastically. "But that's the half I'm worried about."

"Oh, I get it. You're jealous because I'm part god! You like me being the weak one!" Peter said and Rhea gave him a dry look while adding some pieces to her transmitter.

"You were insufferable to begin with." Rhea shook her head. "And FYI, I'm half god to genius." Rhea focused back on the comm. "I haven't been able to reach Rocket. I'm going to see if I can get a signal outside."

"You just don't get it! What it's like to get your family back." Peter snapped, almost instantly regretting his words. Rhea stopped short of stepping outside the room, her hand braced on the doorframe, her shoulders slowly rising and falling as what he said hit home.

"You know what? I know what happened to us." Rhea whirled around on him, eyes flashing with anger. "Our relationship was where one person was willing to open themselves up to new possibilities, and the other person is just a jerk who doesn't trust anyone!"

"I finally found my family, don't you understand that!?" Peter said weakly after a moment of tense silence.

"I thought you already had." Rhea said brokenly as tears gathered in her eyes.

"So this is how it ends, then? Our whole story. Like this? You and me?" Peter frowned weakly.

"Apparently there never was a you and me." Rhea said solemnly before turning on her heel and leaving, Quill making no move to stop her.

-0-

Gamora was sitting alone in the fields when Rhea came across her. She had taken a walk alternating between fuming anger and heartbroken sadness. She sat down next to Gamora following her gaze out toward the landscape neither speaking. Two plants, nearby, flittered against one another in the wind, making a clicking sound over and over again. Rhea glared at them out of the corner of her eyes before raising her hand and snapping her fingers bathing them in green flames. She starred at the charred remains of the plant, Gamora waiting for her to speak first.

"Dammit." Rhea said suddenly, running her hands over her face.

"Trouble with Peter?" Gamora asked.

"He just won't talk to me and when I try to talk to him he turns into this massive jerk not that I'm much better, but he's just…." Rhea groaned. "If he didn't want the relationship in the first place he should have said something! I warned him that I don't do flings, that I'm only in for long term, but did he listen, no, and now here we are!" Rhea buried her hands in her hair. I don't know who I blame more, myself for being stupid enough to fall for him or Peter for being a major douche bag!"

"So I'm guessing he didn't listen about our concerns with Mantis and Ego." Gamora said dryly.

"Nope." Rhea shook her head. "I never should have convinced him to come here."

Gamora made to comment, but instead heard something getting closer.

"Do you hear that?" Gamora asked.

"Yeah, what is that?" Rhea asked. Slowly as one they turned to look behind themselves to see, in the distance, an M-ship flying toward the planet. They watched as it got closer and closer, and realized that was flying directly at them.

"Run!" Gamora yelled as she and Rhea snapped to their feet running as fast as they could with the ship bearing down on them.

Nebula hollered as she blasted her guns, diving down towards Gamora and Rhea. They fled from Nebula's ship as huge chunks of land exploded on either side of them. Gamora leapt into a ditch pulling Rhea with her, both of them landing hard, as the M-Ship swooped just a couple feet above them.

"Who is that?!" Rhea coughed out.

"Nebula." Gamora spat. "That psychopath."

"She's coming back." Rhea said upon seeing the M-Ship banking and flying toward them again. They stood, running along the hillside as gun blasts burst behind them, but Gamora spotted a cavern, leading down into the earth.

"Over there." Gamora yelled pointing at the cave. She and Rhea darted into it running down deeper into it. Glancing back over their shoulders where Nebula, insane with rage, continued flying towards them.

"She's not stopping." Rhea said as they sped up as best they could.

The M-Ship entered the caver which was too small for it, clipping its wings, but amazingly enough kept flying at them. Again Nebula opened fire on them as they ran. The blasts caused the ground to collapse around them, and they fell, smashing down through another level below them, slamming hard on the ground.

The underside of the M-ship was scraped apart flying above them and pieces came raining down around them. Nebula zoomed towards a huge cavern wall trying to turn her ship in time, to no avail. She sideswiped it, falling down, crashing on the ground, where she was now on the same level as Gamora and Rhea. Gamora spotted the enormous blaster from the M-ship, attached to an ammo rig.

"Stay back, I'll handle this." Gamora told Rhea who nodded, knowing better than to get between Gamora and Nebula.

Gamora picked up the blaster, clutching it tightly as she aimed it toward the ship. Nebula saw Gamora, through the canopy, picking up the blaster and struggled to get free and out of the way, but her legs had been pinned in the crash. Gamora clamped two metal switches together, machine-firing the gun as she moved forward.

The front of the M-ship was peppered with blasts and then exploded. The explosion caused the thin ground around it to collapse, and the entire ship fell backwards to an even lower level bursting through some more as it hit the ground. Gamora gazed down at the ship, Rhea walking up to her to also take a look.

"You think she's still in there?" Rhea asked.

"Dammit." Gamora let out an annoyed sigh before heading down to the ship with Rhea.

Nebula was a mess, her legs were broken, and she was trapped in the ship with a fire at her feet. She struggled, trying to get out, but her machine parts were sparking and she could hardly breathe. It seemed as though she was going to die, when there was a blast of ice putting the fires around her out as part of the ship was torn away by Gamora. Rhea held the fire at bay as Gamora grabbed Nebula, unceremoniously pulling her free, just as the M-ship explodes, pitching them all to the ground.

"I don't know about you two, but I'm all funned out." Rhea muttered as they lay next to each other recovering, Nebula coughing as her legs were healing, cracking back into place along with various other parts of her body. Nebula glanced at Rhea who had the heels of her hands buried in her eyes then looked over eyeing Gamora before letting out a yell attacking her.

"Are you kidding me?!" Gamora snapped as they fought. Rhea moved forward to help, but Gamora wasn't having it. "Stay out of this, it's between me and her."

Rhea backed off watching as Nebula snatched Gamora's blade from her, and tumbled on top of her as she gained the upper hand. She held the blade above Gamora, ready to plummet it into her. Rhea was about to intervene, but took note of Nebula's hesitancy. Nebula wanted to stab Gamora, it was plain to see that she really did, but now that the moment was at hand…she couldn't. Nebula screamed in frustration and fell back.

"I win." Nebula panted as Gamora eyed her, a little surprised. "I win. I bested you in combat."

"Uh, no, I just spared your life…" Gamora said.

"You were stupid enough to let me live so." Nebula bit back.

"You just let me live!" Gamora said.

"I don't need you always trying to beat me." Nebula argued.

"I'm not the one who just flew across the universe because I wanted to win!" Gamora argued back

"Don't tell me what I want!" Nebula snapped.

"I don't have to because you make it obvi…" Gamora replied.

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO WIN, I JUST WANTED A SISTER!" Nebula exploded. Gamora stopped suddenly, struck as Nebula was breaking down before her. Rhea glanced awkwardly between them before backing away a little.

"I'm just going to take a walk around, give you guys some space." Rhea said slowly as glanced around and picked a random tunnel to go down.

"You were all I had, but you were the one who needed to win!" Nebula spoke up after Rhea had left. "Thanos pulled my eye from my head and my brain from my skull and my arm from my body because of you!"

Gamora didn't know what to say and Nebula was almost instantly embarrassed as they sat there for a moment, saying nothing. Gamora and Nebula stayed sitting in front of what remained of the ship, quietly and awkwardly. Then they heard Rhea rapidly walking back to them looking pale faced and her eyes wide.

"Rhea? What's wrong with you?" Gamora asked.

"Gamora, I found something…bad, just really…bad…" Rhea said glancing between Gamora and Nebula. Gamora stood to her feet following Rhea as she led her down a twisting tunnel, where phosphorescent lights shined brightly and Nebula hesitantly followed them down the tunnels.

"What's that?" Gamora asked.

Gamora and Nebula followed Rhea further down the cavern, stepping into light, getting closer. Rhea stopped at the end of the tunnel pointing up, leaving Gamora and Nebula horrified as what they were seeing. Piles and piles of skeletons of various species, thousands of them, that seemed to go on forever.

"Oh my God." Gamora breathed out.

"I ran a spell scan, they're all children, all of them." Rhea looked sick.

"We need to get off this planet." Nebula said.


	6. Chapter 6

Peter's quarters were entombed in stars and the soft sound of "Earth Angel" had just finished playing softly through the room and "Brandy" had started up. Quill was lying in bed, unable to sleep, listening to the song as he thought about his fight with Rhea. He felt mad at her for her words, but he was even madder at himself, feeling responsible for most of it.

"You all right, son?" Ego stood in the doorway of his sons room, Quill turning to face him. "I saw your girl stomp off earlier in quite a huff.

"Yeah." Quill sat up, nodding.

"It's fortuitous you're listening to this song." Ego commented taking a seat next to his son.

"You know - ?" Peter looked surprised.

"'Brandy' by Looking Glass. A favorite of your mom's." Ego reminisced.

"Yes." Peter nodded.

"One of earth's greatest musical compositions. Perhaps it's very greatest." Ego smiled.

"Yeah, it is." Peter grinned.

"You and I, Peter, we're the sailor in the song." Ego spoke along with the lyrics as they played. "He came on a summer's day, bringing gifts from far away - like the children I put in your mother, or the freedom you brought Rhea." Quill listened as Ego went on. "Brandy, you're a fine girl, what a good wife you would be. But my life, my love, my lady is the sea. The sea calls the sailor back. He loves the girl, but that's not his place. The sea calls upon him as history calls upon great men, and sometimes we are deprived the pleasures of mortals."

"Well, you might not be mortal, but me…" Peter didn't like the idea of leaving Rhea behind.

"Death will remain a stranger to both of us as long as the light burns within the planet." Ego smiled.

"I'm immortal? That's... really?" Peter said in shock.

"Yes, as long as the light exists." Ego nodded.

"And I can use the light to make cool things? Like how you made all this?" Peter asked.

"It'll take thousands of years of practice before you get really good at it." Ego told him. "But, yes."

"Well, get ready for an eight hundred foot statue of Pac Man, then." Quill said in excitement. "With Skeletor. And Heather Locklear. I'm gonna make some weird shit."

"I can't wait to see your weird shit." Ego put his arm around him, smiling kindly.

"Wow, that..." Peter winced.

"Came out a little disgusting." Ego grimaced as the chuckled. "It is a tremendous responsibility, Peter. Only we can remake the universe. Only we can take the bridle of the cosmos and lead it where it needs to go.

"How?" Peter asked and Ego held up his fingers, letting forth a flame of white cosmic light. Quill held up his fingers, letting forth a smaller, less intense flame of white cosmic light. Mantis watched them from the hall around the corner, looking at Ego and Quill and the light emanating from their fingers. She had a look on her face like she was having a panic attack.

"Come with me." Ego beckoned to Peter who followed him out of the room down the hall.

Ego led Quill back to the palace into the diorama room as he talked, explain everything to Quill.

"You need to readjust the way you process life. Everything around us - including the girl as long as her life span is - is temporary." Ego told him. "We are forever."

"Doesn't eternity get boring?" Quill asked.

"Not if you have a purpose, Peter." Ego replied. "Which is why you're here. I told you how all those years ago I had an unceasing impulse to find life." Ego stopped underneath the diorama of him facing the little alien girl. "I didn't tell you how when I did find it, it was all so... disappointing." Ego lamented. "And that is when I came to a profound realization. "My innate desire to seek out other life was not so that I could walk among that life." Ego looked at his son, moved by the memories. "Peter, I had found meaning."

Quill was taken aback, but Ego set his finger lightly on his forehead, and the white light bursts through his son's body, the cosmos lighting up his eyes. He looked ecstatic, far beyond where he stood, and seemed to finally understand.

"I see it. Eternity." Peter grinned.

-0-

Mantis turned away from the way Ego and Peter went and hurried down the hall in the opposite direction as fast as she could toward the sleeping quarters. She let herself into Drax's room where the large man was snoring quit loudly as he slept.

"Drax! Drax!" Mantis called out to him and he woke to see a panicked Mantis sitting on the bed beside him. "Drax, we need to talk…"

"Ugh. I am sorry, but I like a woman with some meat on her bones." Drax told her.

"What?" Mantis looked confused.

"I tried to let you down easily by telling you I found you disgusting." Drax told her.

"No! That's not what I…" Mantis was once again cut off as Drax started to gag. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm imagining being with you physically!" Drax dry heaved.

"Drax, that's not - I don't like you like that. I don't even like the type of thing you are." Mantis assured him hurriedly.

"Hey! There's no need to get personal!" Drax said in offense.

"Listen!" Mantis snapped shutting Drax up. "Ego's gotten exactly what he wanted. I should have told you earlier, I am stupid. You are in danger."

Gamora and Rhea burst into the room, both of them looking beyond furious, Nebula coming in behind them. Rhea saw Mantis standing with Drax and charged her, grabbing her by the neck, and slamming her against the wall.

"Hey!" Drax called out.

"Who are you people?! What is this place?!" Rhea snarled.

"What is she doing here?" Drax pointed at Nebula.

"Just watching the fireworks." Nebula said sarcastically.

"Rhea, let her go!" Drax ordered.

"The bodies in the caverns, who are they?!" Rhea demanded.

"You are scared." Mantis said. Rhea, whose skin is touching Mantis, released her stumbling back, a look of terror on her face.

"What did you do to me?" Rhea roared as she tried to recover from the unexpected burst of fear.

"She already told me everything." Drax told them.

"The bodies are his children." Mantis told them much to their horror.

"We need to find Peter now and get off this damn planet." Rhea ordered.

"Ego will have won him to his side by now. He has a way of…" Mantis started, but Nebula cut in.

"Then we just go." Nebula said simply.

"No. He's our friend." Gamora replied.

"All any of you do is yell at each other." Nebula shook her head. "You're not friends."

"You're right. We're family." Drax corrected her. "We leave no one behind." He glanced at Nebula. "Except maybe you.

"Oh my god." Nebula frowned. Rhea took out her comm when it started beeping and moved quickly toward the window as she answered it.

"Rocket?!" Rhea said in relief.


	7. Chapter 7

_AN:_

 _Anyone wondering what Taylor is up to, well I am so I'm going to rewind the story a bit and we're going to join Taylor on her search for Peter:_

-0-

Taylor walked through the town taking in the less than desirable establishments around her with a curled lip if disgust. She looked up at a brothel and shuddered at the sight of the yellow robot women. After all of those stories about how advanced other species must be and those movies depicting utopian societies she had to admit she was a bit let down.

She had the hood of her tailored ankle length leather duster pulled up over her long light dirty blonde hair as the snow started to fall a little heavier. Underneath her duster she wore a black closed high necked leather top with a v neck opening in front accented in navy blue that reached down to her thighs, a pair of fingerless black leather gloves that reached up to her elbows, a round blue polished stone was hanging from the neck of her top, a loose navy blue knit scarf that hung open down to her knees, a pair of black pants, a pair of knee high black boots, and strapped to her back was Inlustris.

After a brief frustrating word with one of the waiters Taylor slipped into a free table outside the less than desirable bar, taking off her hood as she did allowing her hair to fall free down her back. She also took off her spear laying it across the table as she signaled the bar tender for a drink which she didn't touch, keeping it around more for look than anything else.

She had been staking out bar after bar, which were more brothel than bar, waiting for the ravager captain she had learned used to deal in children. She found out from an informant that he was here at the Iron Lotus, but she had gotten here a bit too late, he was busy and wanted no interruptions according to the waiter.

So she waited as she eyed the rest of the ravagers from all sorts of factions making drunken revelry. A few had thought it would be a good idea to hit on her, those men now supporting third degree burns and frost bite. They had started daring each other as they got drunker to approach her.

Her eyes scanned the crowd, pausing at a tall skinny man glancing at her before ducking his head. He had grey speckled hair shaved closer along the sides and back, but longer on top. He wore a dark red and black leather outfit with the ravager crest on it.

He looked back up at her out of the corner of his eye before quickly taking a shot, like he was trying to get the courage to come over, some of his fellow ravagers encouragingly teasing him. He took in a big breath, letting it out before he wondered over to her sliding into her booth, and Taylor couldn't help, but to notice how blue his eyes were.

"Can I get you a…a drink…?" He trailed off, his cheeks going blue as he spotted her still full drink. At the bar the other ravagers erupted into loud laughter.

"I'd appreciate it, this one ain't doing it for me." Taylor circled her finger on the rim of her glass causing a flash of fire that evaporated the alcohol inside. From what she had heard this was the second in command of the man she was after, might be useful to make nice.

"You ain't going to set me on fire?" He asked in surprise, the other Ravagers now cheering him on. "Or freeze me?"

"Nah." Taylor rested her chin on her closed fist as she smiled at him. "I like your smile."

"Thanks, I like yours to." Kraglin ducked his head then held out his hand. "I'm Kraglin."

"Taylor." She slipped her hand into his.

"That your spear?" He asked as he reluctantly let go of her hand.

"Yeah, this is Inlustris." Taylor patted her spear.

"You named it?" Kraglin looked over the weapon.

It had a broad blade, two hand lengths long, and the hilt was inverted with a smooth curve to it. When unsheathed the blade was revealed to be a gleaming almost glowing silver embedded with a blue harlequin opal eight point star shaped stone on one side and a red harlequin opal in the same shape on the other side. The hilt of the blade was black leather inlayed with in intricate silver design that ended at the silver pummel.

"It came with the name, means starlight." Taylor explained ran her fingers over it then tilted her head to where the other Ravagers were drunkenly giggling, trying to catch snowflakes on their tongues. "You with them?"

"Yeah, I'm second in command of or our faction." He puffed out his chest in pride.

"Wow, impressive." Taylor whistled lowly.

"So, where are you from?" Kraglin asked.

"Oh far away from here." Taylor sighed. "I'm looking for someone that was taken from me a long time ago."

"Oh…I'm sorry. Were they real important to you?" Kraglin asked.

"It was my twin brother, so yeah, they were very important." Taylor looked up at him with a soft sad smile and Kraglin felt his nerves spike again.

The way the snow was drifting and settling into her hair and lashes, her flushed cheeks, she was really pretty. He was about to speak up again to keep the conversation going with her, but one of the Ravagers calling out drunkenly seemed to catch her attention.

"Yondu! Come on down!" An older Ravager, Tullk, drunkenly dancing about on the street waved up at one of the windows on the second story of the building.

"Yondu?" Taylor sat up straight upon hearing the name.

"Yeah, he's our captain." Kraglin nodded pointing over to where Yondu was walking down the stairs from the suite. Two bodyguards, Brahl and Half-Nut, saluted and followed him as he descended the rest of the way down the stairwell.

He paused at the bottom of the stairs spotting a group of Ravagers in blue uniforms laughing. A gruff, older warrior, Stakar, and a man seemingly made of diamonds, Martinex were among them. Yondu was struck by the sight of them, Stakar laughing as he told a story from one of his more amusing past adventures.

"And I was like, Aleta, I love you, but you're crazy now, you always been…" Yondu approached Stakar with trepidation.

"Stakar." Yondu said and Stakar was surprised to see him. "Been some time. I'd…"

"Seems like this establishment is the wrong kind of disreputable." Stakar spat out and the blue-coats turned walking away.

"Stakar..." Yondu tried, but was ignored. Stakar glanced at the proprietor as he passed her by on the way out.

"There are a hundred Ravager factions, Sneeper. You just lost the business of ninety-nine by serving one." Stakar announced to the owners deep dismay.

"Please, sir! Sir!" She stumbled after him, begging him not to black list her amongst the ravagers. Yondu stood there for a moment, hurt, as they head out the door, but, little by little, his hurt turned to rage and he followed. Yondu charged quickly toward Stakar and the others.

"I better get back to the others." Kraglin said sensing trouble brewing, hating that he had to cut short his time with Taylor.

"Not a problem, see you around slim." Taylor nodded with a smirk as he grinned sheepishly before going back to the other Ravagers. Taylors gaze flickered to Yondu and Stakar watching in interest.

"You all can go to hell! I don't care what you think of me!" Yondu snarled at them all and Stakar whirled around toward him, furious.

"Then why you following us for?!" Stakar bit out.

"'Cause you'll listen to what I got to say!" Yondu demanded.

"I don't got to listen to nothing! You betrayed the code! Ravagers don't deal in kids!" Stakar said causing Taylor to go ramrod straight, her nails digging into the table.

"I didn't know what was going on…" Yondu defended himself.

"You didn't know 'cause you didn't want to know, 'cause it made you rich!" Stakar tore him down.

"I demand a seat at the table! I wear the flames same as you!" Yondu gripped the flame emblem on his jacket.

"You may dress like a Ravager but you won't hear no Horns of Freedom when you die, boy, and the Colors of Ogord will not flash over your grave!" Stakar shook his head bitterly. "You think I take some pleasure in exiling you, you're wrong. You broke all our hearts."

Stakar and the others stormed away, Martinex staying a moment, staring at Yondu in disgust, and then moved on too. Yondu was left alone, shaken as the snow fell on his blue face. Taylor almost felt sorry for him, but then again he was getting what he deserved if he really was the one that took her brother. A monstrous ravager leaned in toward Kraglin, Tullk, Gef the Ravager, Oblo, and Retch as he eyed Yondu.

"First Quill betrays us and Yondu just lets him go, scot-free. Now he's getting all riled over nothing. We followed him 'cause he was the one wasn't afraid to do what needed to be done. Seems like he's going soft." He snarled out in a whisper.

"If he's so soft why you whispering for?" Kraglin challenged.

"You know I'm right, Kraglin." He said.

"You best watch what you say about the Cap'n, Tay…" Tulk started to warn him.

"Who the hell is that?!" Retch cut him off.

Tullk and the others gaped when they spotted the High Priestess Ayesha walking past them. The Chambermaids were bent over rolling out a long blue cloth so she didn't touch unconsecrated ground. Yondu eyed them as part way through their walk the roll the cloth was coming from got stuck. The maids struggled as the Priestess struggled as well to maintain her piousness until they finally got it unstuck. They rolled it the rest of the way up to Yondu stopping at the end and does her best to force a smile.

"Yondu Udonta, I have a proposition for you." She said as Yondu eyed her.

Taylor watched as Ayesha spoke to Yondu, her voice now hushed so no one else could hear. Taylor started to drum her fingers again as he waited impatiently for the trophy topper to wrap it up. They seemed to agree and with that the gold woman turned walking away, the chambermaids now struggling to wrap the blue cloth back up behind her as she left.

Her heart beating almost painfully in her chest and the sound of her own blood rushing in her ears Taylor stood from her table walking toward Yondu. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Kraglin watching her wide eyed as made her way, her spear in hand.

"Yondu, I want to talk to you." Taylor demanded gaining the blue man's attention.

"What do you want?!" He snapped as he eyed her up and down, tired of the day's confrontations and not wanting anymore.

"You took something of mine and it's taken me a long time to track you down so I can get it back." Taylor narrowed her eyes at the blue man

"Whatever you think I took girly, I probably already sold it so get over it." Yondu dismissed her.

"And where do you sell the children you take?" Taylor grit her teeth. Yondu froze, turning back to her, anger blazing in his eyes.

"What?" He snarled, his fists gripped at his side as he toward over her.

"The children, specifically the one you took from Earth, what do you do with them?" Taylor snarled right back at him not backing down an inch.

"What's it to you girl?" Yondu sneered, moving his coat out of the way of his arrow.

"That boy you took, he was my twin brother and I want him back." Taylor glared and Yondu's face went slack, his coat end falling back over his arrow.

"You're the girl." Yondu breathed out stiffly.

"Damn straight I am." Taylor ground her teeth tightening her grip on her spear. "Now are you going to take me to my brother or am I going to shove this spear straight down your throat."

"I ain't taking you anywhere girly and you ain't going to do nothin' with that stick." He moved to side step her, but she blocked him. He let out a sharp whistled and his glowing red arrow shot out from its sheath pointing itself firmly at her forehead.

"But mine is so much bigger." Taylor's spear glowed ominously.

"You can't win this one girl." Yondu threatened as everyone around them watched with baited breath, but Taylor had an ace, a very nice gift from Vanessa to help her on her way. Taylor called out a price loud enough that the other Ravagers heard her and perked up.

"You take me to Peter and it's all yours." Taylor grinned viciously, knowing that the money won over his crew and if he turned down easy money like that he'd have trouble amongst them. He glared down at her gnashing his teeth, but Taylor just smiled up at him. Yondu glanced up at his crew and could see them practically salivating.

"Show it to me." He demanded hoping she was bluffing, but Taylor reached into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out her proof of payment.

"Satisfied?" Taylor said sarcastically.

"Fine." Yondu snarled. "Kraglin, get over here!"

"Yes captain." The skinny Ravager ran over to them.

"Keep any eye on her." Yondu ordered and turned, pacing back to his ship. Taylor just smiled grimly as she placed her spear back into its sheath on her back.

"You're lucky he didn't stick you." Kraglin commented as he and the other Ravagers made their way back to the ship, many of them eyeing Taylor in one way or the other.

"I wouldn't have given him the chance." Taylor replied walking with her hands behind her back, her posture straight.

"Oh…" Kraglin eyed her as they came up to the ship, wondering if she was as good as she was confident. Honestly her whole life had flashed before her eyes when she saw that arrow in her face, but she didn't want anyone else to know she was scarred. He escorted her inside as everyone was rushing about their duties getting ready to take off. "So you're really Peter's twin sister?"

"Yes." Taylor nodded as Kraglin continued to look at her out of the corner of his eye.

"You look to pretty to be his twin." Kraglin mumbled.

"What?" Taylor glanced at him.

"Nothing." Kraglin said quickly, a light blush on his cheeks.

"Why did Yondu take my brother?" Taylor asked Kraglin as they made their way down the hall.

"For his father Ego…I mean your father to I guess." Kraglin shrugged. "He hired us to find his kids and take them to him."

"Our fathers name is Ego." Taylor echoed, taking note of the interesting name. "He's alive." Taylor laughed a bit in wonder. "We have a father." Kraglin nodded, furrowing his brows when Taylor's face fell. "But you only took Peter. Why didn't you take me to if he asked you to take his kids?"

"Oh…uh…well he only wanted the male…children." Kraglin said reluctantly with a wince.

"Oh." Taylor's crossed her arms casting her eyes to the ground. Taylor cleared her throat pushing her hurt emotions back. "Wait…" Taylor looked at him brows furrowed. "Heirs? How many heirs did you take to him?"

"Quite a few." Kraglin ducked his head shamefully.

"Why did he want all of his male heirs?" Taylor asked, feeling an uneasy shift in her stomach.

"We didn't know why for a long time." Kraglin said hesitantly.

"Didn't know what?" Taylor narrowed her eyes.

"He was…killing them, we don't know why though." Kraglin said ashamedly.

"Killing them!" Taylor echoed in shocked fear.

"That's why we kept Peter so Ego wouldn't get to him." Kraglin told her.

"You kept him safe from Ego." Taylor realized.

"We tried, I mean as much as a Ravager can be safe." Kraglin shrugged with a dry chuckle.

"Either way, thank you." Taylor said to the lanky man who nodded nervously in return. He led her down into the living quarters opening the door to one of the few rooms there.

"Sorry about the mess." Kraglin moved about the room picking up some clothes and a few things here and there. He quickly shoved them in various drawers and shoving some other stuff under the bed.

"Is this your room?" Taylor asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah, well, only me and the captain have set rooms, everyone else just kind of sleeps wherever they fall." Kraglin shrugged straightening the blanket on his bed. "You can stay here during the trip, wouldn't be a good idea if you wondered around too much by yourself."

"Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself." Taylor took a seat on the end of his bed, crossing her legs as she glanced around herself. Kraglin stood awkwardly not knowing what to say or to do from there, but Taylor had questions. "What happened to Peter since you guys took him? I mean what had he been doing and all that?"

"Oh, well, for a while the Captain kind of took him under his wing and taught him how to be a ravager…." Kraglin shuffled nervously as he told her about her brother leading up to the battle of Xandar, taking a seat on a chair, to nervous to sit next to Taylor on the bed.

"So he's like a hero for the galaxy now?" Taylor asked, wide eyed.

"I guess so." He shrugged. "Him and his friends."

"I'm glad he turned out well in the end there." Taylor laughed with a smile, Kraglin finding her happiness contagious as he smiled back, but once again a frown marred her features. "But he didn't come back…" Taylor became worried as she clenched her hands. "He could have come back to find me, but he didn't."

"He talked about you a lot." Kraglin said quickly, gaining her attention. "He wanted us to go back for you, but we never did. He really missed you, I guess, I mean I think…maybe he was too scared to find you. Maybe he was worried you might not be there or something…." Kraglin stuttered out. "But I do know he really does care about you."

"Thank you Kraglin." Taylor's smile returned.

"Hey Kraglin." There was a loud banging on the door. "Pull your pants back on and get to the helm, Captain wants you now!"

"I'm sorry…about that…" Kraglin's face went so blue Taylor was worried that maybe he wasn't breathing. "I would never do that…well I don't mean I wouldn't if you wanted…I mean I woulnd't do that without you…I…" He backed away toward the door holding up his hands nearly tripping backwards while Taylor watched in amusement. "I better go see what the captain wants."

Kraglin dashed out of the door slamming it behind him in his haste to get away while Taylor pressed a hand over her mouth as she laughed. He was an interesting fellow, that was for sure, and sweet which was interesting considering his occupation.

-0-

Taylor knew she shouldn't be poking around the ravager's room, but she was a bit bored and wasn't really going through anything, just walking around taking in the room. She paused when she came across an old Zune hooked up to some speakers. She glanced at the door before taking a chance and started to scroll through the song list surprised by the amount of earth music there.

Kraglin was making his way back to his room, his mind replaying the tongue lashing he had gotten from Yondu when the Captain had found out he had been talking to Taylor for a while and hadn't realized who she was. In his defense the last time he had seen her the lights of their ships were flashing all around and she was all the way on the ground, plus she had grown up quite a bit.

He came to a sudden stop just outside his door when he heard the music coming from within. He slowly opened the door spotting Taylor as she sang along with "Hey Jude" by The Beatles, swaying in time with the beat. He quickly slipped inside before anyone else came along making sure not to make a sound as he watched her.

Taylor was really loosing herself in the music and the memories they brought with them. She recalled the first time her mother started to teach her how to knit while their music played, Peter making them laugh as he danced around the living room. Not happy to be dancing on his own he had pulled Taylor and their mom into the dance. They spent a lot of time like that before their mother had gotten sick, then everything changed.

Kraglin cleared his throat causing Taylor to startle, spinning around to face him with a spell seal on each hand. The lanky ravager backed up a pace at her sudden defensive posture holding his hands up to show he meant no harm.

"Didn't mean to startle you." Kraglin said as she lowered her hands dispersing the seals.

"It's fine." Taylor said then realized what she had been doing. "Sorry, I know I shouldn't have, but I just really like music and I saw the zune…" Taylor moved over to the player and went to turn it off. "Sorry about that."

"Don't turn it off." He said quickly stopping her. She looked up at him as she shuffled nervously. "This is one of my favorite songs coming up."

"Somebody to Love" by Queen came up. Taylor smiled at the song nodding her approval to Kraglin as she started to sway again.

"Do you dance Kraglin?" Taylor looked up at him.

"Me?! No…" He shook his head quickly. "Don't even know how."

"Come on, I'll teach you." Taylor grinned pulling him to the center of the room. "Just sway your hips a bit." Kraglin hesitantly tried to follow her movements, but was a bit jerky. "Almost, just need to be a little smoother. Here, like this." Taylor placed her hands on his hips guiding them. Kraglin suddenly found it hard to look at her and glanced away. "There you go." Taylor nodded. "You know, really your hands should be on my hips and my hands go here." Taylor placed his hands on her hips and placed hers on his shoulders. "That's better."

"Yeah, better." Kraglin nodded jerkily as they swayed about the room.

"Can't believe you've never dance, especially with my brother around." Taylor commented.

"Why's that?" Kraglin asked.

"Peter was always dancing when the music played. He would always make me and mom dance with him, though it never took a lot of convincing." Taylor absentmindedly played with his collar.

"He danced around a lot, still does as far as I know." Kraglin cleared his throat. "That's how he won that war on Xandar."

"By dancing?" Taylor looked up at him with a raised brow.

"That's how they distracted Ronan." Kraglin nodded. "He and this girl Rhea danced allowing their friends Drax and Rocket to shoot the guy's weapon when he wasn't looking."

"Peter would find a way to use dancing as a weapon." Taylor scoffed then smirked up at him. "You're not so bad at it yourself for a first time. Maybe you could use it in your next fight."

"Oh…" Kraglin realized that they had been swaying pretty easily for some time as they talked. "Hey, this ain't so hard."

"Dancing isn't only about the steps, it's about how the music moves you." Taylor shrugged as the song stopped. "In this kind of dancing there are no wrong steps."

"Thanks for dancing with me." Kraglin said sheepishly as he reluctantly stepped back from her. "I better get back to the helm though, just wanted to check on you. I'll come back with something to eat for you later."

"Sounds good." Taylor nodded. "Do you know if they've found anything on Peter's location yet?"

"Uh…no, not yet…" Kraglin said quickly moving back to the door. "But we'll let you know."

"Ok." Taylor nodded, not believing him for a second. "I'll see you later."

"Right." Kraglin ducked out of the room and Taylor put her plan into action.


	8. Chapter 8

Taylor had kind of figured Yondu might leave her out of going to actually get Peter so she was glad that she had kept tabs on everything going on in the ship thanks to one of Tony's nifty spy bugs. It was a prototype in the shape of a spider he was making for some kid. She may or may not of borrowed it long term without Tony knowing.

She placed the ear piece in so she could eavesdrop and the blue lens came down over her right eye allowing her to see what the small robot was seeing. She flew it down the hall easily avoiding the crew as she ate the cup of soup that Kraglin had brought around earlier along with some water. She was just finishing up her drink when she heard the news that they had found the Milano, Peter's ship. She chuckled at the name, any lingering bit of doubt she had that this was her brother going out the window.

Retrieving the robot she easily followed the Ravagers without their notice and had a pretty good view behind a tree, watching as they were almost comically taken out by what seemed to be a raccoon. Then Yondu let out a beautiful whistle, an arrow shooting through the air pausing right before the raccoon who cautiously raised his paws in surrender.

"Crap." The raccoon muttered, the tip of the arrow almost grazing his forehead. Yondu waltzed out of the trees with Tullk, Kraglin, the Monstrous Ravager, as well as many more.

"Hey there, rat." Yondu grinned.

"How's it going, you blue idiot?" Rocket replied.

"Eh, not so bad. We got a pretty good gig." Yondu shrugged. "A golden gal with quite a high opinion of herself offered us a large sum to deliver you and your pals to her, so she can kill y'all." The Ravagers closed in entirely encircling Rocket leaving him no chance of escape. "Pretty easy to find you, since we put a tracer on your ship back during the War over Xandar."

"Of course, freaking jerk." Taylor tensed as she got ready to spring into action. She shouldn't have trusted that blue moron and she felt a bit disappointed in Kraglin, she had kind of liked him.

"You give me your word you won't hurt Groot, and I'll tell you where the batteries are." Rocket replied.

"Lucky for you my word don't mean squat." Yondu told him. "Otherwise I'd actually hand you over."

"Otherwise you'd what?!" The monstrous ravager known as Taserface echoed earning a scowl from Yondu as Taylor relaxed slightly at his words.

"We'll take the batteries. They're worth a quarter mil on the open market…" Yondu said, but the monstrous ravager cut him off.

"That priestess offered us a million! A quarter is only one third of that!" He snapped.

"A quarter ain't one-th…" Yondu tried.

"A quarter is four times a million! We're in the money!" Oblo cheered.

"No, idiot. A quarter is twentyfive." Gef argued.

"No…" Yondu was getting exasperated with their stupidity.

"We can't even buy a pair of boots with twenty-five units!" Gef complained. Taylor couldn't believe that these were the men that had helped raise her brother. She was really starting to worry about how he turned out with these guys for role models.

"The point is, we aren't stupid enough to help kill the Guardians of the Galaxy. We'd have the whole Nova Corps on us." Yondu told them loudly.

"That ain't right. I just gotta say it this one time, Cap'n." Kraglin spoke up, everyone looking at him. "No matter how many times Quill betrays you, you protect him, like none of the rest of us much matter. I'm the one what sticks up for you, me and Tullk."

"Damn straight, lad. You're right: he's going soft. S'pose it's time for a change in leadership!" Taserface called out.

"Uh oh." Taylor muttered as clearly this was not what Kraglin had expected to happen.

"Uh…" Kraglin's eyes widened as he realized what he had set in motion. The Monstrous Ravager pointed his weapon at Yond und others followed his lead. A handful of others, including Tullk and the Innocent Ravager, raised their weapons in their Captain's defense, so that the whole circle are aiming at one another leaving Kraglin is confused as to how this escalated so quickly.

"Put you damn guns down!" Tulk roared.

"Hold on! There's got to be some sort of peaceful resolution here!" Rocket was in the center of the potential crossfire. "Or even a violent resolution, where I'm standing over there."

Yondu glared at Taserface, his fin lighting up and he started to whistle when a gunshot rang out his fin was blown off the top of his head. The arrow clattered to the ground and they watched as Yondu, confused, tottered there for a moment, and then collapsed revealing Nebula behind him, clutching a smoking pistol. Rocket looked at her, dead-eyed before she shot him as well with a blast of electricity, knocking him unconscious.

"Well, hello, boys." The Ravagers gaped at Nebula as she took a bite from a piece of yaro root she stole from the Milano, but as she chewed, she becomes disgusted spitting it out. "It's not ripe."

"Well crap." Taylor said softly.

-0-

The Ravagers' massive ship moved slowly through space having taken off as soon as the mutineers had secured the ones still loyal to Yondu. It wasn't much of a fight after Yondu was taken out, Taylor using their fight to easily slip back into the ship.

"You can't do this!" Tulk yelled as her was dragged across the floor struggling to get free while the other ravagers laughed. "This is mutiny! Mutiny!"

They shoved Tullk into a cylindrical room as a glass door closed on him. He continued screaming and slamming his fist on the glass, but he could barely heard. Half-Nut smiled and pressed a button next to the door, the outside of the compartment opened so that Tullk was sucked into space.

Tullk floated away, opening his mouth to scream, but he couldn't. His face and body swelled quickly as he expired in the vacuum of space. Behind him countless other corpses of Ravagers loyal to Yondu, leading like bread crumbs toward nothing at all.

Yondu watched this, helplessly from a chair, his hands tied behind him. He was a wreck, his headpiece destroyed, wires hung from a gap in his head where the fin used to be. He saw the mutineers grab the innocent Oblo, dragging to the same fate as Tullk.

"Cap'n, help me! Cap'n?!" He screamed as Yondu dropped his head in shame.

"You're the one what kilt those men by leading 'em down the wrong path." Taserface sneered punching Yondu. "Because you're weak." Another hit. "And stupid." The Monstrous Ravager turned towards the Ravagers, who listened, rapt and vengeful. Nebula leaned calmly against a wall, watching. Kraglin watched too, seemingly concerned while Taylor was hiding around the corner staying in the shadows as she watched. She slipped on her sling ring just in case she needed a quick getaway. "It's time for the Ravagers to once again rise to glory with a new Cap'n... TASERFACE."

The Ravagers shouted out their approval as Taserface threw his arms up in glory - when he heard snickering. He and the other Ravagers turned and see Rocket, also in a chair with his arms secured behind him, giggling.

"I'm sorry. Your name is... it's 'Taserface'?" Rocket asked him.

"That's right." Taserface replied.

"Do you... shoot tasers out of your face?" Rocket asked.

"It's metaphorical!" Taserface through up his hands again.

"For what?" Rocket asked and Taserface had to think hard on that one.

"It's a name what strikes fear in anyone what hears it!" He told them in another cheer.

"Really?... Okay, sure." Rocket said sarcastically.

"You shut up! You're next!" Taserface screamed at him, spit flying everywhere. Taserface went back to Yondu, bringing out his blade. "Udonta, I been waiting to do this for a long ti…" Again they heard snickering. Rocket was burying his mouth in his chest, trying to stop from cracking up. "What?! What?!"

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Rocket tried to pull himself together. "I just keep imagining you waking up one morning, looking in the mirror, and, in all seriousness, saying 'You know what would be a really kickass name? Taserface!'" Taylor had to bight her fist to keep from laughing and the Ravagers were also having the same problem. "What was your second choice?! Scrotum Hat?!"

"New plan." Taserface interrupted the ravagers laughing, stopping them. "We're killing you first." Taserface shoved him back, ready to plunge the knife in him. Rocket's smile disappeared as he stared at Taserface with dead eyes.

"Well, dying is certainly better than having to live an entire life as a moronic shitbag who thinks 'Taserface' is a cool name." Rocket deadpanned and Taserface went to stab him.

"That's enough killing for today." Nebula ordered sharply.

"Thought you were the biggest sadist in the galaxy." Taserface turned toward her, irritated.

"That was when Daddy was paying my bills. The Priestess wants to kill the fox herself. And he…" She nodded to Yondu. "…has bounties on his head in at least twelve Kree provinces." Taserface glared at her and it was obvious he was considering attacking her. "I assure you, I am not as easy a mark as an old man without his magic stick or a talking woodland beast." Taserface decided not to risk it. "I want ten percent of the take, and a couple more things."

Taserface agreed then turned to the crew with a wicked smile.

"Now I believe we have a passenger on this ship who's unaccounted for." Taserface grinned maliciously. "Bring me the terran woman!"

"Let the chase begin." Taylor quietly slipped away, easily avoiding the crew with the help of her portals, but she only had so much space ship to hide in. She decided to stick close to Kraglin, tailing the lanky Ravager who didn't seem as happy about the mutiny as the others did. He seemed to be leading Nebula to their hanger where they kept their other ships.

"We got a whole box of hands if that one don't work out." Kraglin said as Nebula flexed her new robotic hand.

"It's fine." Nebula replied.

"You think them Kree is gonna execute the Cap'n?" Kraglin asked hesitantly.

"The Kree consider themselves merciful. It will be painless." Nebula answered. Kraglin looking a little pale, guilt filling his eyes. They came to an open doorway beside a huge docking bay, and an M-Ship was decked out with a lot of weapons.

"Well, there it is, best ship we got. The location of Ego's planet's in the nav." Kraglin told her and Taylor briefly considered stowing away, but looking at Nebula she was less then certain she'd be able to pull it off. "We'll wire you the ten percent when we's paid. What you gonna do with your share?"

"As a child my father would have Gamora and me battle one another in 'training.'" Nebula paused in the doorway, her voice tight with anger and pain. "Every time my sister prevailed my father would replace a piece of me with machinery, claiming he wanted me to be her equal. But she won, again and again and again. Never once refraining. Because of them, I am this. So after I murder my sister, I will buy a warship with every conceivable instrument of death. I will hunt my father like a dog and I will tear him apart slowly, piece by piece, until he knows some semblance of the profound and unceasing pain I know every single day."

"Damn." Taylor whispered, feeling a bit of sympathy for the girl, but the murdering her sister intent was a bit off-putting, popping off the father seemed reasonable though.

"Yeah... I was talking about, like, a pretty necklace." Kraglin stared at her, weirded-out. "Or a nice hat. Something that'll make the other girls go 'oooooo, that's nice.'" Nebula gave him a look of pure death. "Anyway, uh, happy trails." Kraglin watched Nebula take off before he turned to leave, but jumped back with a bit of a scream when he found Taylor in front of him not having heard her approach. She had her spear in hand and her eyes were narrowed. "Uh…hey?"

"Mutiny huh? You didn't strike me as the kind to go against his captain." Taylor commented holding the spear under the skinny man's chin, Kraglin raising his hands in surrender. "Not to mention your willingness to hand my brother over to be killed."

"I didn't mean…I didn't want…" Kraglin shook his head. "I didn't want to hand Peter over…I just wanted…"

"Then just whose side are you on?" Taylor stared up at his face seeing the tense set of his jaws and the tears gathering in his eyes.

"It's my fault they're all dead." He hung his head in shame. "I deserve to die for what I done."

"You don't deserve to die." Taylor sighed as she retracted her staff. "This wasn't your fault, it would have happened either way and you'd be floating out there with the rest of them." Taylor sighed leaning on her staff. "But we need to do something, I don't like the idea of spending too much time with Taserface and his buddies. Any ideas?"

"First we free the Captain and Rocket, we'll need their help." Kraglin told her as she slipped her spear into her sheath.

"No problem, I can open a portal into the cell." Taylor readied her sling ring, holding out her hands.

"I need to get something from the Captains rooms first." Kraglin stopped her, taking hold of one of her hands. "Can you get me in there?"

"With that many Ravagers around that might not be a good idea." Taylor commented.

"They're about to get dead drunk, party for the new captain." Kraglin spat in disgust. "We can wait until they pass out."

"Sounds good." Taylor nodded and heard stomping headed their way. "I better get hiding again."

"Go to my room, you'll be safe in there." Kraglin told her. She nodded opening a portal much to Kraglins interest as she stepped through giving him a small wave before the portal closed.

-0-

Rocket hit the ground hard followed by Yondu landing equally hard on the ground beside him. They looked up to see Taserface, Gef the Ravager and a rather obtuse ravager locking the cell door.

"We'll deliver you to the Kree in the morning." Taserface taunted. "Neither one of you gonna last much longer after that."

"Okay, Taserface." Rocket crawled toward them as they walk away. "See you later, Taserface." Taserface glanced back, perturbed, as he disappeared around the corner. "Hey, Taserface, tell the other guys we said hi, Taserface!"

"What about the little plant? Can I smash it with a rock?" Gef asked as they rounded the corner down the hall.

"No, Gef! It's too adorable to kill. Bring it to the tailor." Taserface replied. "What about the woman?"

"Still lookin'." Obtuse told him. Back in the call Yondu and Rocket settled down, Yondu looking like a beaten man.

"No offense, but your employees are a bunch of jerks." Rocket pointed out.

"I was a Kree battle-slave for twenty years when Stakar freed me. He offered me a place in the Ravagers." Yondu reminisced. "Said all I needed to do was adhere to the code. But I was young and greedy and stupid - like you stealing those batteries."

"That was mostly Drax." Rocket lied.

"Me and Stakar, and the other captains - we weren't so different from you and your friends. The only family I ever had. But I broke the code. They exiled me." Yondu said. "These ones here are the ones who followed - of course they're jerks. Which is what I deserve."

"Slow down, drama queen. You might deserve this, but I don't. We gotta get out of here." Rocket told him.

"Where's Quill?" Yondu asked.

"Went off with his old man." Rocket answered.

"Ego?" Yondu looked concerned.

"Yeah. It's a day for dumbass names." Rocket stared at him, picking this up. Yondu snickering at his slight against Ego. "You smiled and for a second I got a warm feeling, but then it was ruined by those disgusting-ass teeth. Ever heard of floss?

"You're like a professional asshole or - ?" Yondu's smile disappeared.

"Pretty much a pro." Rocket bragged. "Why didn't you deliver Quill to Ego like you promised?"

"He was skinny, could fit into places we couldn't. Good for thieving." Yondu answered and Rocket nodded, grumbling. "I got an idea on how to get outta here. But we're gonna need your little friend.

-0-

Baby Groot was wearing a tiny Ravager uniform reacting to clothing like a cat, struggling to take them off but unable. Ravagers were gathered around him, drunk and laughing while chanting "MASCOT."

"Lil' feller's all worked up! Needs a drank!" Retch poured alcohol on him. The Ravagers laughed more as others poured drinks on him as well. Groot screamed at them, furious but helpless. "Lookit how cute it is when it's all riled up!"

"It's Goddang precious!" Half Nut said and this went on for a while longer before the Ravagers passed out for the night allowing Groot to get away. In shadows, he moped down the hallway, looking traumatized. His clothes were now torn and he was soaked in alcohol. As he passed the cell, he heard Yondu calling out for him.

"Hey, twig. C'mere." Groot saw Yondu and Rocket looking at him in the cell and stepped toward them.

"Oh, man. What'd they do to you?" Rocket looked concerned.

"Hey, you wanna help us get outta here?" Yondu asked and Groot nodded, but Rocket looked unsure. "There's something I need you to get, and bring back to me." Groot nodded. "In the Cap'n's quarters, there's a prototype fin, like the thing I wore on my head." Groot nodded. "There's a drawer next to the bunk. It's inside that. It's red. You got it?

Groot nodded emphatically and darted off to get it. Yondu looked at Rocket, pleased, but Rocket looked more than a bit uncertain. Baby Groot crept into the dark room of the captain's quarters, drunken ravagers were sprawled everywhere. He spotted a bureau and drawer was half open. His face lit up anad moments later baby Groot stood outside of the cell, beaming, holding a pair of shorts.

"That's my underwears." Yondu said.

"Yeah, I was pretty sure he didn't know what you were talking about. You have to explain it more careful." Rocket told him.

"All right. It's a prototype fin…" Yondu explained more carefully, Groot once again setting of down the hall and moments later Groot was back in front of the cell, holding a wriggling orloni in his hands.

"That's an orloni. It's a fin, Groot." Rocket tried.

"You explain it this time." Yondu groused and Rocket started to speak. When Groot returned this time he looked hopeful, holding out a cybernetic eye. "That's Vorker's eye. He takes it out when he sleeps. Go look again."

"But leave the eye here." Rocket said.

"Why?" Yondu asked.

"He's gonna wake up tomorrow and he's not gonna know where his eye is!" Rocket could hardly speak he found it so funny. Groot left and returned once again dragging a large piece of furniture to the cell.

"That's a desk. We told you it was this big." Rocket showed him how small it was with his hands. Groot made a face like "Oh!" as if now he got it. It's all coming together. Groot comes back holding a severed toe.

"Tell me you guys have a refrigerator somewhere with a bunch of severed human toes." Rocket said with a wince. Yondu subtly shakes his head in reply. "Okay, then let's just agree to never discuss this."

"The drawer you want to open. Has this symbol on it, okay?" Yondu ripped the Ravager patch off his jacket. Groot took it looking at Yondu and nodded. Then, slowly, he placed it on top of his head. "What? No."

"He thinks you want him to wear it as a hat." Rocket said.

"That's not what I said." Yondu said.

"I am Groot." Groot took it off his head.

"He's relieved that you don't want him to." Rocket translated.

"I am Groot." Groot said.

"He hates hats." Rocket told Yondu.

"I am Groot." Groot explained.

"On anyone, not just himself." Rocket said.

"I am Groot." Groot finished up.

"One minute you think someone has a weird-shaped head. The next minute, it's just because you realize part of that head is a hat." Rocket said then looked at Groot. "That's why you don't like hats?"

Groot nodded in reply.

"This is an important conversation right now?" Yondu asked.

"No. Let's try again." Rocket said sending Groot off again.

Inside the cabin passed out on the bed Taserface was snoring and slobbering like a dog. Groot tossed the Ravager Patch up onto the bed beside him then growing his vines up the bed he pulled himself up beside the sleeping giant. Groot clasped the Ravager patch in his hand and looked fearfully around.

He spotted the Ravager symbol on a night stand drawer. He stared at the symbol in his hand, then at the drawer, then at the symbol, and then at the drawer again, and then one more time for good measure wanting to be very, very sure they're the same. Satisfied he crept carefully towards the drawer, growing his vines out grabbing the handle and pulled it slowly open allowing him to peer inside.

Beside some writing instruments and a tin of candies, there laid a red fin, taller and more shark-like than Yondu's old model. Groot smiled hugely, picking up the tin of candies instead, excited that he had found it.

"That ain't it." Kraglin said causing Groot to swirl around spotting Kraglin and Taylor, backlit in the doorway, looking over him and intimidating as hell.

"Don't worry sweetie, we're going to help you ok?" Taylor said coming over and kneeling down next to him. Groot looked at Taylor for a bit, finding something familiar and comforting in her appearance, before holding his arms up to her for her to pick him up. Kraglin took the fin while Taylor cradled Groot using a handkerchief she froze then melted to wipe away the alcohol that had been spilt on him. "Poor kid, what'd those jerks do to you?"

"I am Groot." Groot said, cuddling into her arms.

"Nice to meet you Groot, I'm Taylor." Taylor smiled.

"I am Groot." Groot eyed Kraglin distrustfully.

"I don't think he trusts you." Taylor guessed. "Don't worry sweetie…" She winked up at Kraglin making him blush blue and duck his head. "…he's a good guy."

They hurried down the halls back toward the cells, but unfortunately not everyone was passed out drunk. Two Ravagers at the end of the hall spotted them, walking over with boisterous laughter.

"Kraglin, you found her!" The green man commented. "We should take her to captain Taserface."

"What are you doing with that?" The shorter of the two men asked, nodding to the fin.

"Uh…" Kraglin glanced from the fin to the men. "I…was…"

"Groot, could you stay with Kraglin just for a bit?" Taylor held Groot over to Kraglin, the small tree baby sitting on top of the fin.

All three men watched in confusion as she turned back to the ravagers who were watching in confusion, slow on the pickup. Taylor smoothly unsheathed her spear spinning it around as she extended it, the ravagers realizing what she was doing and going for their weapons.

"What are you going to do with that girl? We got guns!" The not green man sneered, Taylor raising a brow in return.

"And even with that I'm still going to kick your butt." Taylor sighed.

The green man laughed pointing his gun at her clearly not taking her seriously. Taylor brought the pummel down on the hand of the green man causing him to drop his gun then fluidly moving spun her spear back up smacking the other man in the jaw. She swung the spear, ignus lighting up causing a burst of fire between them forcing them to step away from each other then placed two harder hits to each of their stomachs herding them out of their way against the walls. As soon as they hit the walls glacium lit up on Inlustris and with a spin of her spear she froze them to the walls.

"Whoah…" Kraglin breathed out.

"I am Groot." Groot nodded.

"We better get going, there might be more of them around." Taylor said as Groot climbed onto her shoulder, using her hair to hold on as they made their way down to the cell. Kraglin hesitated only a moment when they reached their destination before throwing the red fin down at Yondu's feet. Yondu and Rocket looked up at Kraglin and Taylor with Groot on her shoulder.

"I didn't mean to do a mutiny." Kraglin paused starring down at the ground, then, sadly went on. "They killed all my friends."

"I believe you have a ship to reclaim captain and a bargin to settle with me." Taylor said with crossed arms.

"Who the hell are you?" Rocket asked.

"Taylor Quill." Taylor replied.

"I am Groot." Groot said in surprise.

"Peter's sister?" Rocket realized and Taylor nodded. "Great, another Quill, just what the universe needs."

"You know my brother?" Taylor grasped the bars.

"Yeah, he's a real…" Rocket started snarky, but Yondu cut in.

"We don't have time for this." Yondu snapped. "You get the third quadrant ready for release and take the girl with you."

Kraglin saluted.

"One more thing." Rocket spoke up and Kraglin stared at him. "You got any clones of Quill's old music on the ship?"

The ship was relatively quiet except for the hum of the engines and the occasional sounds a large metal ship will make as it journeys through space, but overall it was peaceful until the music echoed down the halls. Jay and the American's 'Come a Little Bit Closer' filled the ship up over the intercom. Causing general confusion, the guards rushing to unlock the cell door and discovering Yondu, sitting calmly as Rocket is finished attaching the new fin on his head. Its electrical systems popped on and the two surprised Ravagers scurried to upholster their pistols in time, but it was too late. Yondu whistled and his arrow was set into motion.

Kraglin and Taylor entered another ship, pulling latches and flipping switches and twisting dials on elementary flight controls. Kraglin directed Taylor on what to do as they got the ship underway. Taylor flipped on a screen watching as Yondu took out his former crew with ease, Groot took out Retch, and Rocket was shooting everything he could.

"He just blew up something important, the ships starting to explode, are we ready to go?" Taylor asked Kraglin.

"Just waiting for the others." Kraglin nodded just before Yondu entered with Rocket and Groot.

"Release the quadrant." Yondu ordered.

"Aye Capn'." Kraglin did as ordered. Taylor felt quite nervous about all of the explosions going on around them and judging by Groot and Rocket's looks she was no alone in this respect. Then Kraglin pulled up one final latch, the entire rear upper quadrant of the Elector detached from the rest of the ship while the rest blew up. Taylor watched, amazed as the ship thrust forward, away from the explosions. Kraglin keyed into a jump point ahead while nearby, Rocket pulled up the Navigation panel.

"Where to, Cap'n?" Kraglin asked.

"Ego." Rocket set the destination.

"NO, BOY!" Yondu tried, but it was too late. The Quadrant trembled as they hit the jump point and blooped out of present space, making the jump, then the next, and the next, and the next….

Inside the ship they all held on for dear life as the ship violently shakes and the locations outside of the window rapidly shift by. Their bodies started to distend slightly and Yondu was furious.

"It ain't healthy for a mammalian body to hop over fifty jumps at a time." Yondu roared.

"I know that." Rocket snapped.

"We're about to do seven-hundred." Yondu glared and Rocket looked bummed.

"What's going to happen to us?" Taylor held onto her seat as the continued to jump, no one having to answer as it was already happening to them.

They were all screaming as their entire faces and bodies were distorted as if in some evil funhouse mirror. Gritting her teeth Taylor moved her hands deliberately causing the world around them to morph into diamond like pieces.

"What the heck is this?" Rocket asked as they all caught their breath, Groot throwing up a bit.

"This is the mirror dimension." Taylor gasped out. "What happens out there doesn't affect what happens in here." Taylor handed Groot her handkerchief so he could clean off the vomit. "We'll be safe till we reach the end of these jumps."

"You're like Kruger, he's one of them sorcerer types to." Yondu said as they recovered from the jumps they took, retching a bit. The ship blurred through the rest of the jump points, the others happy not to face anymore of the affects, bit then Yondu rounded on Rocket. "What the hell you doing, boy?!"

"I could tell by how you talked about him - this Ego is bad news. We're going to save Quill." Rocket said.

"For what?" Yondu said derisively. "For 'honor'? For 'love'?"

"No! I don't care about those things! I want to save Quill so I can prove I'm better than him! I can lord this over him forever!" Rocket replied. Yondu laughed bitterly as he pulled himself up to the controls. Rocket yanked himself up beside him looking mad. "What are you laughing at me for?!"

"You can fool yourself and everyone else but you can't fool me. I know who you are." Yondu replied.

"You don't know anything about me, loser." Rocker snarled.

"I know everything about you. I know you play like the meanest and the hardest 'cause you actually the most scared of all." Yondu shot back.

"Shut up." Rocket snapped.

"I know you steal batteries you don't need and you push away anyone who's willing to put up with you, 'cause just a little bit of love reminds you how big and empty that hole inside you actually is!" Yondu went on.

"I said, shut up." Rocket was getting really angry.

"I know the scientists what made you never gave a rat's ass about you…" Yondu was relentless.

"I'm serious, dude - !" Rocket warned.

"Just like my own damn parents, who sold me, their own little baby, into slavery! I know who you are, boy, because you're me." Yondu finished and they stare at each other there, a mirror.

"What kind of pair are we?" Rocket said lowly.

"The kind that's about to go fight a planet I reckon." Yondu said.

"All right, okay, that's…Wait. Fight a what?" Rocket looked surprised.

"You mean he's the ruler of a whole planet?" Taylor looked shocked.

"No girl, I mean he is a planet." Yondu corrected her.

"My dad…is a…planet?" Taylor said slowly making a circle gesture with her hands. "Like physically a giant ball of dirt with an atmosphere?"

"How does that even work?" Rocket asked.

"I don't think I want to know." Taylor looked disgusted. "I just want to know how to save Peter and beat the crap out of Ego."

Rocket tried to contact the others over the comm and looked relieved when he heard a female answer.

"Rocket?!" Rhea said in relief.

"Yeah, it's me Rhea, here to save your butt again along with the others." Rocket said offhandedly, but it was easy to see he cared. Rocket, Yondu, Taylor, and Groot made their way through the ship and crawled into a huge laser drill. "Keep that transmitter nearby so I can find you. We're in an old piece of construction equipment Yondu once used to slice open the Bank of A'askavaria."

"Ego's unhinged…" Gamora started.

"I know. Get ready." Rocket told them.

"Drop it, Kraglin!" Yondu ordered and Kraglin yanked a lever releasing an ugly, bulbous and uneven craft separated from the Quadrant, and headed toward Ego's surface.

"I got a plan." Rocket said.

"What is it?" Taylor asked.

"It's pretty simple." Rocket smirked and Taylor didn't know if she felt scared, excited, or maybe it was a bit of both.

"Lay it on me ring tail." Taylor smirked back.


	9. Chapter 9

The dioramas all around Quill and Ego transformed into a map of the universe. Quill stared in his cosmic reverie at the planets around him, thousands of them with pieces of Ego's lifeform, glowing cosmic plants, buries in them.

"I call it the Expansion. It is my purpose. And now it's yours as well." Ego gestured around them proudly.

"It's beautiful." Quill stared up at a diorama. Ego grabbed handfuls of his own body, engulfed in light, and planted the wriggling pieces on various planets. "Over thousands of years I implanted thousands of extensions of myself on thousands of worlds." In the dioramas, the cosmic plants overgrew and covered each of the planets. "I needed to fulfill life's one true purpose: to grow and to spread, covering all that exists, until everything... is me." Ego's eyes lit with a sick madness. "I only had one problem. A single Celestial doesn't have enough power for such an enterprise. But two Celestials - well now, that just might do." On the dioramas depicted Ego with hundreds of species of female aliens. "Out of all my labors the most beguiling was attempting to graft my DNA with that of another species. I hoped the result of such a coupling would be enough to power the expansion. I had Yondu deliver some of them to me. It broke the Ravager code - but I compensated him generously. And, to ease his conscience, I told him I would never hurt them." Ego explained. "That was true. They never felt a thing. But, one after the other, they failed me. None of them had the Celestial genes. Until you, Peter. Out of all my spawn, only you have carried the connection to the light." Peter smiled like an enchanted idiot, the cosmos in his eyes. "For the first time in my life, I am truly not alone." Quill suddenly looked sad. "What is it, son?"

"My friends." Peter said coming to a bit. "Rhea?"

"That's the mortal in you, Peter." Ego told him and Peter zoned out again.

"Yes. I don't need that." Peter said in a monotone voice.

"What are we?" Ego asked.

"Forever." Quill answered.

"What are they?" Ego questioned.

"Temporary." Quill replied.

"You think you love them. But love is merely an evolutionary trick in the service of reproduction. We are beyond such things." Ego said pompously.

"Yes." Peter said.

"Now…" Ego began.

"But my mother." Peter cut in and Ego looked at him, questioningly. "You said you loved my mother."

"That I did. My river lily, who knew the words to every song that came on the radio. I returned to earth to see her three times. I knew if I came back a fourth, I'd never leave." Ego sighed wistfully. "The expansion, the reason for my very existence would be over. So I did what I had to do. But it broke my heart to put that tumor in her head."

"Wh- what?" Quill snapped to, the cosmos disappearing from his eyes, replaced by tears streaming down his face.

"I know that sounds bad…" Ego started, but Peter pulled out his pistols and fired. The blasts tore through Ego, dispersing the molecules forming his body. In a blind rage Quill shot at him again and again and again. The flesh disappearing from Ego like bites from a cookie, exposing the angry alien skeletal form beneath, but as the charge on Peter's blasters wore out, Ego just looked at him and although he was filled with holes, he merely looked disappointed. "Who in the hell do you think you are?"

"You killed my mother!" Peter ground out.

"I tried so hard to find the form that best suited you, and this is the thanks I get?" Ego transformed into David Hasselhoff before returning to his usual form. "You really need to grow up." A spiky cosmic light propelled tendril shot up from the floor behind Quill, and jutted into Quill's body thrusting him into the air. Peter opened his mouth to scream, a white light emanating from within. "I wanted to do this together! But I suppose you'll have to learn by spending the next thousand years as a battery, 'Star-Lord'."

Ego walks calmly up beside the trapped Quill. He snatches the Walkman off of him. He stares at it. Quill can barely speak.

"NO." Quill gasped out as Ego pressed play and a distorted version of "Brandy" played. He stared at it perhaps feeling wistful sadness, but more than likely feeling nothing at all.

'Brandy, you're a fine girl. What a good wife you would be.'

"'My life, my love, my lady is the sea'?" Ego sang along a bit. "Peter, THIS IS THE SEA."

Ego crushed the Walkman in his grip as Quill watched helplessly. The power surged from Quill through the tentacle and throughout the entire palace power surged. Rhea, Gamora, Mantis, Drax, and Nebula ran toward the Palace it burst with white cosmic light, so brightly they had to protect their eyes.

Ego basked in the power that traveled down his legs through the surface of the planet twisting through viens of light beneath and into an enormous metal orb, the self-chamber which exploded with the light. Various planets Ego had been on he had left behind a strange flower that now burst to life, reaching out and consuming all in its way. Ego summoned all his energy, when, suddenly, a door beside him smashed apart with a powerful kick from Drax. Behind him Rhea, Gamora, Nebula and Mantis ran into the palace flinching back at the light. Ego turned to see them, then heard a rumbling above him. He turned to look at a window on the palace wall behind him and the giant laser drill came smashing through the palace wall.

"Hey there, Jackass." Yondu called out as Ego looked surprised.

The laser drill smacked into Ego, smashing him back. The tendril retracted from Quill as he fell and heaved for breath. The cosmic plants suddenly stop cold in their tracks. Drax, Rhea, Gamora, Nebula, and Mantis rushed into the crumbling palace. The door on the side of the Laser Drill slid open and Baby Groot was standing there, smiling, and waving.

"Out of the way, dumber, smaller Groot." Drax ordered. As Drax crawled in, Groot started punching Drax as hard as he could. Taylor opened a portal jumping through it and rushing to the man who had been released from the spike. Ego stood shakily to his feet stalking over to them, his jaw set into a hard line.

"You'll not touch another hair on his head." Taylor ground out as she took out her spear.

"Who the hell are you?" Ego sneered at her.

"Taylor Quill, the daughter you didn't want." Taylor snarled with a dark smirk. "And I've come all this was to find my brother and kick your butt." Ego's face looking surprised as she formed a spell seal with a few quick slashes from her spear. "And I've found my brother."

Taylor blasted him back with a powerful white light reducing his body to smoking ash. She spun her spear around cutting off the spell when the job was done starring down at what was left of Ego with a sneer.

"Taylor?" Peter looked up at her in shock.

"Hello Peter." Taylor said as she knelt down next to him helping him up.

Rhea ran over before he could say anything and taking up his other side while casting a weary look toward Taylor. Taylor glanced at Rhea doing a bit of a double take, her eyes going very wide, but shook her head at the impossibility of it.

"I told you something didn't feel right." Rhea snapped at him

"'I told you so.' That's really what I need right now." Quill groused.

"I came back, didn't I?" Rhea replied.

"Because of our thing." Peter smirked.

"I hate you." Rhea muttered.

"No you don't." Peter replied.

"Is that thing really our dad?" Taylor asked.

"Would seem so." Peter nodded, slightly unsure of his sister after all the crap he was going through with his father.

"What are you doing? You could have killed us all crashing in here like that!" Drax complained to Rocket.

"Uh, 'Thank you, Rocket'?" Rocket snapped.

"We had it under control." Drax argued.

"We did not. That is only an extension of his true self. He will be back soon." Mantis told them.

"What's Smurfette doing here!?" Peter gestured to Nebula

"Back rubs, dishes, killing gods, whatever I need to do to get a damn ride home." Nebula replied.

"She tried to murder me!" Rocket said.

"I saved you, you stupid fox." Nebula sneered.

"He's not a fox." Gamora said.

"I am Groot." Groot said.

"I'm not a raboon either!" Rocket told them.

"I am Groot." Groot corrected him.

"'Raccoon,' whatever!" Rocket said.

"Who is she?" Gamora demanded as she advanced on Taylor.

"Taylor Quill." Taylor replied, eyeing the green woman.

"Quill?" Rhea echoed glancing at Peter.

"My sister." Peter said to the shock of those who did not already know. "So you're alive and have…powers?"

"Yes, I'm alive and I have powers, I'm a sorceress." Taylor replied, both of them uneasy, not sure how to act. "Why would you think I was dead?"

"Ego said you'd died of the same cancer mom had." Peter told her.

"Well I think we can guess how much salt we should take with him comments." Taylor replied. "You never came back."

"I couldn't." Peter shook his head.

"Why not?" Taylor asked, but suddenly tentacle like strands burst up through the palace flooring all around the drill.

"How do we kill a Celestial?" Drax turned from the window to the others.

"There's the center to him - his brain, his soul, whatever it is, in some sort of shell…." Peter told them.

"It's in the caverns below the surface." Mantis said as Quill climbed up the ladder to see Yondu in the drivers seat much to his surprise.

"YONDU?" Peter exclaimed.

"If he's got that fin back, I am so screwed." Nebula looked to Gamora.

"After you shot him from behind in the head I wouldn't be too surprised." Taylor commented as she made her way after Peter, but was stopped by Rhea.

"Who are you?" Rhea glared Taylor down.

"Taylor Quill, like I said before." Taylor wrenched her arm from Rhea's grasp.

"Yeah, Peter's sister." Rhea said with narrowed eyes. "I mean who are you really?"

"Just who I said I am." Taylor stood tall. "I can't say it any more clearly than that."

"Sorry is I'm a bit skeptical on how a terran woman made her way all the way from earth out here." Rhea said sarcastically with a bit of bite in her voice.

"I had some help from a friend." Taylor told her.

"Oh really? Who's that?" Rhea asked crossing her arms over her chest tightly.

"Vanessa Stark and her husband Loki of Asgard hooked me up with a ride." Taylor said in annoyance, really looking at Rhea. "And if I might ask, who are you? You looked really familiar. Have we met?"

"No, we haven't." Rhea stepped back away from Taylor.

"You got a name?" Taylor asked, but Rhea ignored her, walking away to Gamora. Taylor gave her one last look before following Peter up to the cockpit leaving behind a stunned Rhea.

"Are you ok?" Gamora placed a comforting hand on Rhea's shoulder.

"Yeah…" Rhea nodded her head shakily, her arms falling to her sides. "I'm…I'm fine. I mean I knew they existed in this universe, I just…."

"Never expected to really have any contact with them." Gamora nodded.

"Yeah…" Rhea breathed out, but any further conversation was cut short by the rockiness of the ride.

Taylor made it to the top of the ladder just as Yondu thrust the ship upward for takeoff, but tentacles wrapped around the ship and yanked is back down into the floor, destroying the foundation of the palace causing it to crumble.

"Thrusters are out!" Yondu called out.

"I guess I should be glad I was a skinny kid. Otherwise you would have delivered me to this maniac!" Quill started rewiring the mechanics.

"You still reckon that's the reason I kept you around, you idiot?!" Yondu replied.

"That's what you told me, you old doofus!" Quill shot back.

"Once I figured out what happened to them other kids, I wasn't gonna just hand you over." Yondu told him.

"You said you were gonna eat me!" Peter complained.

"Eat you?!" Taylor echoed in disgust as she held onto the back of Peter's seat.

"That was being funny!" Yondu defended himself.

"Not to me!" Peter said.

"You people have issues." Rocket commented.

"Of course I have issues that's my fricking father!..." Quill saw where Ego's creepy skeletal form was growing in front of them.

"Well thank god we took after mom." Taylor called out getting a dry chuckle from Peter.

"Thrusters are back up." Peter told them sitting back up.

Quill thrust the ship forward instead of up and it crashed through Ego and down the sloping floor and out through the giant pane of glass at the end. Everyone held on in what's essentially the worst roller coaster drop ever.

"We should be going up!" Yondu said.

"We can't. Ego wants to eradicate the universe as we know it. We have to kill him." Peter said as they plummet toward a fissure in the earth below, but it's too small for the ship. "Rocket!"

"Got it." Rocket blast the lasers perfectly, chipping away at pieces of rock, forming an opening in the crack. They smashed into the opening, barely fitting, leading down into the planet. Quill flew perfectly, twisting through tunnels and around corners. Rocket mans the lasers, blasting pieces out of the place just in time so they can scrape through. "So, we're saving the galaxy again?"

"I guess." Peter said.

"Awesome. We'll really be able to jack up our prices if we're two-time-galaxy savers." Rocket smiled as he moved around his seat working the various controls to keep the laser going.

"I seriously can't believe that is where your mind goes." Peter shook her head.

"It was just a random thought, man! I thought we were friends!" Rocket defended himself. "Of course I care about the planets, and the buildings, and all of the animals on the planets."

"And the people." Rhea called out.

"Meh." Rocket shrugged and Mantis giggled.

"The crabby puppy is so cute he makes me want to die!" Mantis smiled.

"Your suicidal thoughts sadden me, but your wish will likely come true." Drax said as the flight got worse.

Meanwhile, Kraglin was mellowly hanging out, eating some soup and listening to "WHAM BAM" BY Silver when he saw something out in the distance of space and looked a bit closer. Soveriegn omnicrafts are popping out through the jump points above Ego's planet. Ayesha was remotely piloting one of the ships looking determined and angry on the vid-screen, the other crafts coming up to flank her making up a large fleet.

"Pilots, release envoy units!" Ayesha, in full pilot gear, yelled into her comm. Smaller, more nimble robotic envoys, like big pods with blasters for arms - detach from the front of every Omnicraft. "Our sensors detect the batteries are below the surface of the planet. "Dive!"

On the screens in all the pods, the envoys dove toward the planet from slightly different directions. Kraglin, in shock, watched the massive fleet of envoys diving downward and grabbed the comm.

"Uhh... Cap'n?" Kraglin tried, but no answer. "Cap'n?"

Yondu didn't hear the crackling speaker beside him as they maneuvered down through the fissure and Quill eyed him.

"So why'd Ego want you here?" Yondu asked.

"He needs my genetic connection to the light to help destroy the universe. He tried to teach me how to control the power." Peter explained.

"So could you?" Yondu asked.

"A little. I made a ball." Peter told him.

"A ball?" Yondu echoed and Taylor giggled a little.

"I thought as hard as I could, that's all I could come up with." Peter defended.

"You 'thought'?" Yondu questioned and Quill nodded. "You think when I make this arrow fly I use my head?"

"What do you use?" Peter asked.

"Hey! Pay attention to the road, chick flick moment later." Taylor yelled when they looked at each other instead of where they were going, and then crashed into an overhanging piece of rock. The entire side door was ripped off as they screeched through a smaller space and into the planets hollow. "Dear lord, this is like the time you talked me into stealing grandpa's truck for a joyride."

"We were just going to back down the driveway." Peter smirked a bit.

"But you couldn't reach the break and we nearly backed into traffic if grandpa hadn't stopped us." Taylor pointed out and Peter laughed.

"He was so pissed." Peter remarked. "We couldn't sit down for a whole day."

The Laser Drill had dropped into this enormous open space within the planet. The Guardians gathered on the side of the ship open to the hollow, gazing out at its stunning beauty, lit by Ego's white glow running throughout it.

"Whoa." Gamora breathed out.

"There! Thats Ego's core." Mantis turned, looking through the portholes on the other side and pointed at the Self Chamber, down below them. They twisted down towards it.

"That ore's thick. Rocket, we're gonna need to use the big laser." Gamora said and Rocket nodded, flicking switches. All the small lasers on the sides moved through grooves to combine into one huge laser in the center of the ship.

"We must hurry. It will not take Ego long to find us." Mantis told them.

"Keep it still!" Rocket said and Quill steadied the craft as best he could beside the Self Chamber, but I was an unwieldy beast, built for power, not precision. Rocket powered up the mega-laser and held tight to the shuddering controls as it drills, burning a hole into the protective sheathe, molten slag melting and dripping down.

"We drill into the center, we kill him." Quill held tight to the steering wheel.

"I know he tried to take over the universe and all, and I know he didn't really want me, but can we maybe talk to him? I mean he is out dad." Taylor pointed out, a little uncertain.

"He killed mom." Peter said darkly.

"What?" Taylor breathed out, her nails digging into the seat.

"He planted the cancer in her head because he was afraid he'd distract her form his big plan to take over the universe." Peter bit out.

"Well let's drill faster and lobotimise this frugly rock already!" Taylor roared over the noise of their flight.

"What is it, Kraglin?" Yondu noticed the blinking light on the comm and tapped it.

"Um, remember that Ayesha chick?" Kraglin asked.

"Yeah, why?" Yondu looked out the window where Ayesha's squadron was swooping out of the cracks in the ceiling all around them. "Aw, hell."

Quill pulled away from the envoys, but the Sovereign envoys started blasting at the craft all at once; the laser loses power and the vehicle turned sideways. Drax, Mantis, Rhea, and Gamora go tumbling from the hole in the side. Nebula and Groot managed to grab onto the floor. Gamora, Rhea, Drax, and Mantis fall from an incredible height, landing hard on the ground, but managing to stay upright. Rhea looked up and saw the Laser Drill curl behind the Self Chamber as it tries to avoid the envoys' blasters. Nebula and Groot settle as the ship rights itself and blasts pierce the ship around them. Taylor peered down at Rocket, who had jumped out of his seat and is pouring out the contents of his satchel.

"Why aren't you firing the laser?!" Taylor asked.

"They blew out the generator!" Rocket told her. "I think I packed a small detonator."

"A detonator is worthless without explosives!" Nebula argued.

"We got these!" Rocket showed Nebula the Anulax batteries. Peter left the controls to Yondu as he climbed down beside Rocket taking Taylor with him. Rocket was messing with wiring on his bomb.

"Is it strong enough to kill Ego?" Peter asked

"If it is, it will cause a chain reaction throughout his entire nervous system." Rocket explained.

"Meaning what?" Taylor asked.

"The entire planet will explode." Rocket said. "We'll have to get out of here fast. I rigged a timer." Rocket stuffed the bomb back in his satchel and Groot climbed on his back. Rocket and Quill slapped on their Aeero Rigs.

"What are those?" Taylor asked.

"Aeero Rigs, they let us fly, I made them." Rocket answered smugly as Peter held one out to her.

"I'm good." Taylor rushed, jumping out of the ship using her fire to fly.

"Wow…" Peter watched her go, sending out blasts of fire and ice at the ships along with using her spells seals to block oncoming fire.

"Are you sure you two are twins?" Rocket asked eyeing Taylor who was yelling out a fierce battle cry sweeping around with her spear sending out a blast of light. "I mean she's really awesome and you're…"

"Just go!" Peter just shot him a dirty look before they ran jumping out of the laser drill, flying and avoiding the gunfire. They zoomed towards the blast hole on the side of the self-chamber. Rocket and Quill landed, messily, tumbling, Taylor taking up guard duty over them.

-0-

Mantis was worried about something else entirely; the entire chasm began trembling and the walls started to mutate. They writhed, twisted, and morphed at the will of Ego as he approached them.

"He's coming." Mantis breathed out.

"Didn't you say you could make him sleep?" Drax asked.

"When he wants! He's too powerful! I can't!" Mantis said.

"You don't have to believe in yourself because I believe in you." Drax encouraged her.

They looked ahead and see, on the enormous wall in front of them, the light-form of a giant Ego screaming angrily. His scream became a tunnel of rocks rushing toward them like a train. Mantis spotted a nerve bundle on the ground coming from Ego's Core and although afraid, she grabbed it.

"SLEEP!" Mantis screamed with effort and some pain as energy traveled through the bundle and into the core, where it darkens.

The light leaves the rock formation and it slammed into the ground in front of them, splashing dirt over them, but they were safe, shivering. Drax, Rhea, and Gamora look at each other.

"I never thought she'd be able to do it. With as skinny and weak as she appears to be." Drax admitted.

"I don't know how long I can hold him!" Mantis's arm was trembling.

"Well you need to so you better do so." Rhea told her.

"If you don't keep Ego at bay, we all die." Gamora added.

"Wasn't going to put that pressure on her, but yeah, Mantis, he'll obliterate us so hold on." Rhea said keeping an eye on Peter and his so called sister.

-0-

Rocket shined a powerful pen-light inside the cavity, exposing the interior, spattered with Swiss-cheese-like holes glowing with light.

"The metal is too thick! For the bomb to work we'd actually need to place it on Ego's core. And our fat butts ain't gonna fit through those tiny holes." Rocket said.

"Well..." Quill slowly eyed Groot, who is playing with a leaf on his arm and thinking about something else entirely.

"That's a terrible idea." Rocket said.

"Which is the only kind of idea we got left." Peter said. Rocket sighed putting Groot on his back and moved with Groot deeper into the blast hole, mumbling to himself:

"Unbelievable. 'Rocket, do this. Rocket, do that.'" Rocket groused. Quill turned toward the opening where Taylor was still holding off some of the ships.

"Uh, what a day." Peter sighed.

"Ain't it just." Taylor grinned pointing Inlustris at one of the ship firing off a bright beam cutting it in half. Quill flew up as a ship flew in toward him blasting, and he's about to fire back.

Blasts in the deep background echoed down the tunnel to where Rocket placed a tiny bomb in front of Groot. It was a small, simple device with two switches and two buttons.

"All right. First you flick this switch, then this switch. That activates it. And then you push this button, which will give you five minutes to get out of there. Whatever you do don't push this button, because that will set off the bomb immediately, and we'll all be dead." Rocket explained very carefully as Groot looked up at him wide eyed and mouth agape. "Now repeat back what I just said."

"I am Groot." Groot said.

"Uh huh." Rocket crossed his arms sitting back on his haunches.

"I am Groot." Groot went on.

"That's right." Rocket nodded.

"I am Groot." Groot pointed to one of the buttons.

"No! That's the button that will kill everyone!" Rocket told him. "Try again."

"I am Groot." Groot said thoughtfully and Rocket nodded. "I am Groot." Another nod from Rocket. "I am Groot."

No!" Groot pointed to the death button again. "That's exactly what you just said! How is that even possible?! Which button is the button you're supposed to push?! Point to it." Groot thinks and he pointed to the one that will kill everyone. "NO!"

"Hey, you're making him nervous!" Peter called down to them. Rocket runs to see, at the end of the hole, a sliver of the outside as Quill peeked in while shooting at envoys.

"Shut up! And give me some tape! Does anyone have any tape out there!? I want to put some tape over the death button!" Rocket called up.

"I don't have any tape. Let me check." Peter disappeared from the hole as Rocket waited, he heard, amongst the chaos, faintly…

"Yo, Yondu, do you have any - ow! - do you have any tape?!" Peter asked as the sounds of gun blasts echoed. There were some grumblings, but nothing definite as they heard Peter ask various guardians for tape. Rocket and Groot looked around, waiting. Rocket was impatient and coughed. Groot was like a bored kid in a waiting room and he shifted around playing with the wires on the bomb. Quill reappeared outside the hole, shooting an envoy. "No one has any tape."

"Not a single person has tape?" Rocket complained.

"You have priceless batteries and an atomic bomb in your bag! If anyone had tape it would be you!" Peter argued.

"That's exactly my point! I have to do everything!" Rocket snapped.

"Dude, you're wasting time!" Peter snapped back. Rocket turned back to Groot, who had already taken the bomb and was heading towards the hole. He made a "WHEEEEEE" sound and smiled brightly as he hopped into the hole and slid down as if on a water slide.

"We're all gonna die." Rocket, heavy-lidded, watched him go.

-0-

Yondu and Nebula, were in the cockpit, being overcome as blasts come through the walls of the ship.

"We're done for without the generator." Yondu yelled and Nebula moaned, frustrated. She flipped open a section of the dashboard, then a part of her arm. The remaining Sovereign envoys encircled the battered Laser Drill, blasting it to bits. Quill slew into the Laser Drill, slamming into the wall.

"Guardians! Perhaps it will provide you solace that your deaths are not without purpose." Ayesha told them. Nebula fed the wires from the craft into her mechanical arm. The actual Ayesha, fitted with the pilot gear, looked at the Laser Drill on the screen. "They will serve as a warning to all of those tempted with betraying us; don't screw with the Sovereign."

"This is gonna hurt." Yondu worked some switches: The lasers slid back into the slots all over the ship.

"Promises, promises." Nebula muttered as Yondu flipped all the switches; all the power runs painfully out of Nebula's body into the vehicle and the lasers beam out of the ship in all directions at once, like a dangerous disco ball, slicing through almost nearly every single envoy. A beam almost hit Drax, but he leapt out of the way. Smoke rose from a hole in the ground between him and Mantis.

"Hey!" Drax snapped at them. With flair, Yondu spun the pilot's wheel, so that the whole rig revolves. Ayesha looked on, in horror as the beams slice through the remaining crafts and one is coming her way.

"NO!" Ayesha roared as she was ripped apart. She sat back in disgust as all around her the other pods: all of them were down. "NO! NOOOOO!"

"We're gonna blow!" Peter yelled as flaming chunks flew into the rig, fire spilling toward the ship engines. Yondu whistled as the flames hit the fuel. Rhea watched in stricken horror as the entire laser drill exploded.

"Peter?" Rhea called out.

"Nebula!" Gamora gasped.

They spotted Taylor clambering onto the ship reaching in through where the windshield had been. She grabbed Nebula pulling her out and jumping away from the ship landing in front of the others. Gamora ran over to Nebula, worried. Nebula gave her what might be a little smile, and looked upward.

"Thanks." Nebula muttered reluctantly to Taylor, who nodded back, but was starring up.

They all followed her line of sight to see Quill flying from the explosion on his aero-rig. Yondu was holding onto his yaka arrow: his one arm up straight and his heels were touching. Quill looked up at him snickering.

"What?" Yondu questioned him.

"You look like Mary Poppins." Peter said.

"Is he cool?" Yondu asked and Peter looked at the man who raised him with a smile.

"Yeah. He's cool." Peter nodded.

"I'm Mary Poppins, y'all!" Yondu looked out at the Guardians as he came in for a landing.

Both Rhea and Taylor glanced at Peter who subtly shook his head, motioning for them not to say anything. Peter and Yondu landed beside Nebula and Taylor. Taylor grabbed Peter pulling him into a tight hug, Peter slowly wrapping his arms around her as well.

"I missed you Pete." Taylor mumbled as they separated.

"Missed you to Tay." Peter ruffled the top of her head. Rhea ran over to them as fiery ship fragments rained down around them. "I gotta do something." Peter let go of Taylor who watched in amusement as Peter pulled Rhea into his arms cupping the side of her face and pressing a kiss on her lips. Rhea looked up at him surprised while Peter just rested his forehead against hers. "I love you."

Peter had never ever said that to her before, or any other woman as far as she knew. He avoided those words like the plague. She started into his eyes with a narrowed gaze searching them before letting go a soft smile.

"I know." Rhea replied.

"Did you…did you just Hon Solo me?" Peter blinked at her as Taylor laughed behind him.

"Yep, now get it together Star Lord, we got a galaxy to save again." Rhea winked at him.

"I like her, I approve very much." Taylor continued to chuckle as the other Guardians joined them, Rocket flying down on his aero-rig. Mantis was staring forward with concentration with her hand pressed to the glowing nerve until a huge chunk of spaceship flew at her hitting her in the side

"Oh. Wow." Peter muttered as they all were shocked. Mantis lay unconscious beneath a ship fragment losing her hold of Ego. The entire hollow around them began to rumble as the ground and walls themselves shifted and wavered, the whole cavity was alive.

"She's just unconscious." Drax checked on Mantis

"How long before the bomb goes off?" Quill asked Rocket.

"In the unlikely event Groot doesn't kill us all, about six minutes." Rocket answered.

"Kraglin." Yondu spoke into the comm on his lapel. "We need the Quadrant for extraction in T-minus five minutes."

"Aye, Cap'n!" Kraglin answered. They all peered up to see the surface of the planet unfolding above them, so that bright skies shone through.

"Someone needs to be up top when Kraglin arrives." Peter ordered. "Drax, take Mantis."

Drax nodded as he picked up Mantis. Quill grabbed the aero-rig off himself and slapped it on Drax's back, which automatically wrapped around his upper body.

"Ahhh! My nipples!" Drax yelled as he flew upwards.

"Did he just say…?" Taylor started to ask.

"Yeah…he says he has sensitive nipple." Rhea shrugged, slightly embarrassed.

The ground around them split into enormous cracks. Rhea saw a crack in the earth heading toward her Gamora, Taylor, and Peter. Rhea turned to Peter, their eyes meet for a brief moment before she, along with Gamora, fell with the crumbling earth leaving behind Peter and Taylor.

"Rhea! Gamora!" Peter called out as huge bursts of earth shoot up all around them. The planet formed giant tentacles that hurtled toward them. Rhea and Gamora were plummeting, seemingly to their death, when Gamora looked over and saw Nebula falling just behind her. Nebula grabbed Gamora's arm and then grabbed onto a passing cliff. They snap to a painful stop handing down off the side of the cliff.

"Rhea!" Gamora looked down just in time to see Rhea form a string of light that wrapped around the rock and using it swung back up to a flat surface just above Nebula and Gamora. Nebula tossed Gamora up to Rhea who leaned over the edge helping them both up one at a time onto the flat surface. Gamora looked at Nebula, wary but surprised by this beneficence.

"Oh, get over it." Nebula brushed her off.

Quill blasted a tentacle while Taylor froze another before slicing it in half. Yondu whistled, the yaka arrow weaving through them and around them. Rocket tossed a bunch of tiny bombs at some, which stick to and explode, but they are by no means winning this fight.

"We have to get up to the extraction point!" Gamora looked at Nebula and Rhea. They looked over the edge and see a huge rift of land rising quickly. They all look at each other and jump grabbing onto the edge of the rising rift, clutching to it as it flew upward toward the open space above them.


	10. Chapter 10

Drax flew up onto the surface spotting the Quadrant waiting for him there. He darted for the ship and Kraglin opened the loading door, but huge swatches of the planet reached up and grabbed onto the Quadrant, yanking it down. Kraglin, freaking out, threw the thrusters into high gear and they flared as the massive ship struggled to free itself from Ego's tendrils. It did pull itself up for a moment, but the tendrils tightened, slamming it back down. The whole Quadrant started to tip over. Kraglin fell down against the side of the ship.

Drax saw the ship falling toward him and he ran away from it in fear, but he arrived at the edge of a cliff. He crouched as the ship continued down toward him, about to squash both he and Mantis, but Kraglin heroically crawled his way back up to the controls as he dangled from them and pushed on the thrusters, so that the ship went back upright. Drax turned and again ran toward the Quadrant.

Gamora, Rhea, and Nebula were still rising on the rift when they slammed into a wall near the opening in the surface of the planet.

Quill and Taylor turned to see Ego, in his terrifying skeletal light form, strolling down towards them as the land around him parts like the red sea. As Ego wallked, the dirt and molecules around him formed the organs in his body, piecing himself back together. A tentacle slammed Yondu to the ground and covered his entire body. Rocket was hollering as he fired at tentacles, but they overwhelmed him.

The earth wrapped around Drax's legs like quicksand, pulling him and Mantis down into it. Rhea, Gamora, and Nebula scrambled, trying to climb back up, when tendrils wrap around them, stopping them from going further. The walls were tightening around Groot. He grew his branches to try to stop them, but they weren't working. He began to cry, terrified, on the brink of suffocating.

Ego approached his son and daughter fully formed, and he was more truly "himself", more alien with dark eyes and pale skin.

"I told you I don't want to do this alone." Ego snarled then glared down at Taylor who stood with her spear in hand, glowing softly. "Maybe you won't be so useless after all." Ego said as he flicked his wrist and a tentacle knocked Taylor's spear from her hands before a tendril of light thrust into her. "With your power and Peter's I'll be able to expand even faster."

"Taylor!" Peter tried to grab her, but once again, the light tendrils stabbed Peter's back, thrusting him to his knees next to her.

"You cannot deny the purpose the universe has bestowed upon you!" Ego said as smaller light tendrils stabbed into their faces and bodies. The light was being sucked out of Peter and Taylor then up into the Self Chamber once more as it burst with light causing the plants on the other planets reactivate. "It doesn't need to be like this Peter." Ego approached his son. "Why are you destroying our chance?! Stop pretending you aren't, what you are! One in billions. Trillions, even more! With your sister here I won't even have to completely suck you dry, I can take it all from her and spare you to rule by my side." Quill looked up at Ego, barely able to focus, as the molecules form skin over the muscle and skeleton and innards beneath. "What greater meaning could life possibly have to offer?!"

"I don't use my head to fly the arrow, boy! I use my h…" Yondu struggled beneath the tentacle beside Quill before it covered his face.

"Peter!" Taylor reached out to him, in a blind panic her only thoughts were to get to her brother. "Take my hand! Take my hand Peter!"

"Taylor…" Peter struggled, reaching for her, and they managed to grab ahold of each other's hands and suddenly everything went quiet. Tears came to their eyes as they were bombarded with shared memories, those they had experienced together and those of what had happened to them when they were apart.

Young Peter and Taylor cuddled up with their mother listening to music on the Walkman together, the headphones turned up all the way so they could all hear.

Taylor practicing with Mordo and Wong, various spell seals flickering to life before them as the Ancient One watched over them.

Quill and Drax laughing hysterically on the Milano.

Taylor and the Avengers at the after party of one of Tony's famous parties trying to encourage each other to pick up Thor's hammer.

Peter and Rhea looking into each other's eyes and dancing on Knowwhere.

Taylor and Strange having one of their music nights trying to outdo each other on who could remember the most songs and their artists.

Peter and Rocket flying through the sky on aero-rigs for the first time, smiling as the air rushes through their hair, baby Groot happily clutching into Peter's back.

Taylor forming the snow in front of Barton's house and the snowball fight that all of the Avengers had had together.

Yondu and young Quill in the forest, Yondu's arm is on Peter's arm as he teaches him to shoot.

These were just a few memories that flitted through their minds as they drew strength from them and from each other. Peter looked back up at Ego, gripping tightly to Taylor's hand. Through their strange new mental connection Taylor understood what to do. Between their joined hands a light was growing within. Bits of earth began to roll up and scramble and swirl around Peter and Taylor's bodies, arms, legs, as if they're pulling them towards themselves with magnets. Ego looked confused, as the ground around him shook.

"You shouldn't have killed our mom!" Quill glared at his father, his voice distorting with Celestial thunder.

"You should not have attacked our friends, our galaxy, or our planet!" Taylor's voice to crackle with the energy of the Celestial power now awakened by Peter inside of her.

"And you shouldn't have squished my Walkman." Peter snarled as a solid tornado of earth propelled the Quill twins forward. Ego tried to protect himself as they slammed into him, Taylor flying upwards with him, throwing him to Peter who raised his fist, now a giant club and smashed Ego hard. The followed up, Peter grabbing Ego by the throat and repeatedly smashing his head in over and over again.

As Ego lost his concentration his attempts against the other guardians cease. A pair of arms were protruding from the surface of the planet, still holding Mantis aloft. The earth fell away, and Drax, who was entirely covered, heaved for breath. The tendrils fall, freeing Rhea, Gamora, and Nebula as they gasp. Yondu broke through the rocks around him, drawing in breath. The tentacles holding Rocket aloft crumble, and he looked around, confused.

The tunnel around Groot snapped back to what it was. Once more he could see the light at the tunnel's end, and one looked like a giant brain composed of prismatic light. He ran forward as Rocket flew up and yelled.

"Groot! Groot, if you can hear me, hurry up - I'm not sure how long Quill and his sister can keep him distracted!" Rocket called out to him.

Groot arrived at the end of the tunnel, and stopped there. The center of the core held a huge cosmic placenta, and, within that, Ego's true self, a cosmic brain roiling furiously in reflection of its fight with the Quill twins, thrashing around within this womb. Although afraid, Groot placed the bomb on the placenta.

Groot stared at both buttons, scared - he didn't know which one to pick. Groot made a decision on which button to press and went to push the death button. Then his finger stopped just millimeters from the button, trembling. He thinks and then changed the course of his finger, pushing the correct button and the countdown commenced. Baby Groot turned, terrified, and ran for it.

Drax moved with Mantis into the loading bay throwing her down and climbed up a ladder. Rhea, Nebula, and Gamora, climbed up to the surface in the dirt storm.

Ego rose on his own molecular tornado and hit back at Peter and Taylor, yelling as he slammed them back against the wall. He violently threw Taylor to the ground with one of his tentacles while dragging Peter's face along the wall. Taylor bounced sliding along the floor, a clinking sound causing her head to snap up as she watched in horror as her sling ring fell of the edge into a deep abyss, but she had no time to worry about that. Ego Tossed Peter into another wall, briefly fending off Taylor who shot white celestial fire at him, before doing the same to her.

Peter brought his arm filled with light away from the wall, so that he caused a wave of light and rock around the interior of the hollow, flying to Ego and knocking him aside. Yondu protected his face as dirt swirls in the wake of the family battle. Rocket, carrying Groot, flew back down beside him.

"Yondu! We're about to blow!" Rocket told him.

"Get to the ship." Yondu ordered.

"Not without Quill and Taylor." Rocket replied.

"You gotta take care of the twig." Yondu told him.

"Not without you." Rocket said.

"I ain't done nothing right my whole damn life, rat. You need to give me this." Yondu said and Rocket, hesitantly, nodded. He grabbed some things from his bag and handed them to Yondu.

"Two space suits and one aero rig." Rocket said and Yondu nodded, Rocket nodding back. Rocket started to go, but stopped and looked at Yondu. He wanted to say something, but he didn't know what.

"I am Groot." Groot said it for him.

"What's that?" Yondu asked.

"He says welcome to the frickin' Guardians of the Galaxy... only he didn't use 'frickin'." Rocket told him.

"Bye, twig." Yondu said solemnly and Groot waved as Rocket flew toward the surface.

"We're gonna need to have a discussion about your language." Rocket told Groot.

"I am Groot." Groot replied raising his chin.

"Yeah, well let's see if that argument works on Rhea." Rocket shot back.

"I am Groot." Groot said meekly.

-0-

Ego slammed Quill back against a wall and pulled the huge rocks away from the wall, flying them toward him and battering him there. Taylor called her spear back to her and formed a spell seal breathed in cosmic light shooting a beam at Ego hitting him into a rocky pillar breaking it in half. Peter flew next to her side as Ego recovered, the twins flew straight at him, Ego doing the same.

Ego used the light to bring rocks to his body forming a giant avatar of himself. Quill brought yellow rocks to his body forming a giant Pac Man and not to be out done Taylor did the same forming Ms. Pac Man. The three large form flew into each other so hard there was a deafening sonic boom. They all fell still striking one another on the way down and landing hard as the timer on the bomb only had one minute left.

-0-

Rhea and Gamora were caring for Mantis, Nebula standing over them as Rocket and Groot arrived. Rhea instantly shot to her feet rushing over to Rocket leaving Mantis with Gamora.

"Are you both ok? Are either of you hurt?" Rhea asked urgently as she checked them over.

"We're fine." Rocket assured her tiredly.

"I am Groot." Groot nodded as Rhea glanced around.

"Where's Peter?" Rhea demanded, but Rocket doesn't answer or he couldn't answer. "Rocket, where is he?!" Rocket looked down at a timer in his hand. "Rocket?! Rocket, look at me! Where is he?!" Rhea grabbed hold of his shoulders, but Rocket just shook his head a little. Groot pointed sadly outside. "I'm not leaving without him."

Rhea hardened as she stood, her hands glowing with green wisps of energy. She started out the bay door when an electrical blast hit her from behind lighting up her skeleton through her skin. She fell over, unconscious, revealing Rocket with his gun.

"I'm sorry. I can only afford to lose one friend today." Rocket said brokenly as he turned to the comm. "Kraglin, GO!"

"Wait. Is Quill back?" Drax looked uncertain as Kraglin presses thrust. "Rocket, where's Quill?!" Rocket looked sadly out the bay door as it closed, Drax's voice echoed on his comm. "Where's Quill?! WHERE'S QUILL?!"

They were all exhausted, on their knees, Taylor and Peter leaning against one another for support, Ego was slumped by himself not too far from them. The timer read 00:26 seconds. Ego reached for the core.

"No, we need to stop it!" Ego tried, but Peter launched at him, throwing him to the ground. But Ego comes back up, grasping his son's jacket, pleading with him now. "Listen to me! You are a god! If you kill me, you'll just be like everyone else!"

"What's so wrong with that?" Quill asked and Ego looked at his son, scared before turning his panicked gaze on Taylor, reaching out grasping her shoulder.

"Taylor, we could do so much together, you and me, with your abilities…." Ego started, but Taylor merely grabbed his arms by his wrists flinging him back to the ground.

"Don't make me laugh old man." Taylor scoffed sheathing her spear, she and Peter reaching out taking hold of each other's hands. Ego looked at their joined hands and for the first time in centuries felt a pang of loneliness like he had not experienced before. "I for one am looking forward to the fireworks."

"NO…" Ego yelled as the countdown reached zero and the brain exploded, Ego crumbling to dust before their eyes.

The explosion caused the life forces to burst through the entire planet. Everything around them was exploding and Peter looked down at his free hand, where the glow faded then disappeared. They gazed up at the mammoth walls around them as they blow up and collapsed.

"I might be able to teach you to be a sorcerer." Taylor joked sadly.

"That'd be pretty awesome." Peter sent her a small smile.

"I'm glad I found you again Peter." Taylor smiled up at him tearfully.

"Even if we're about to explode?" Peter's voice hitched a bit.

"Even if we're about to explode." Taylor nodded as they pulled each other into a tight hug, at peace with the death that's coming for them, when, from the side, through the debris, Yondu was flying towards them on an aero-rig.

He grabbed them, both up, almost a tackle, really, lifting them up and flying away. As they flew upward, the planet exploded behind them, flames licking their heels, huge stretched of planet caving in. Yondu held a surprised Peter and a shocked Taylor as they soared up into the sky.

"He may have been your father, boy." Yondu told Peter. "But he wasn't your daddy."

"What?" Peter asked.

"I'm sorry I didn't do it right. I'm damn lucky you're my boy." Yondu said and Peter was touched.

"I guess if Peter had to be abducted by crazy space pirates, I'm glad it was you." Taylor told him. "Thanks for taking care of my brother." Yondu nodded sending her a smirk before slapping the spacesuit disks on them, the shimmery sheathe covering them both. "What the heck is this?"

"What?" Peter looked up, tears gathering in his eyes as they shot through the atmosphere which was lit up like the northern lights. Yondu breathes out as completely as he could, emptying his lungs, and Taylor realizes what they're wearing.

"Where's yours?" Taylor panicked, looking at the pain her brother was in at what was about to happen as they exit the planet's atmosphere, bursting into space. Peter struggled to get free and Taylor had never felt so useless, but Yondu held Peter there, trapping him, but it was also an embrace. The entire planet collapsing behind them.

"Yondu, you can't! What are you doing? What are you doing?!" Peter cried out. Yondu's jet pack expired its supply of fuel, and they stopped there, in space, floating. Yondu's grip weakened Peter turned to face him. "Yondu. Yondu, no!" Taylor allowed herself to be released, hanging onto Peter's back as she watched tearfully the heartbreaking scene before her. Yondu grabbed his son's face with both hands, looking at him and patting his cheek with love. "No." Yondu's face expanded and his body went limp as he died there and he started to drift away. Quill grabbed onto his shirt crying. "No!"

Behind them, Rocket and Drax propelled themselves toward them in aero-rigs, grabbing them and pulling them back to the ship.

-0-

Yondu's body laid on a plank: Various colored cloths are laid in strips over his body and face, yaro lilies beneath him, red-fired pyres and Yondu's toys were all around. Rocket, Groot, Drax, Gamora, Mantis, Rhea, Taylor, and Kraglin surround the table with Peter at the head.

"The other day I told Rhea how I used to pretend my dad was David Hasselhoff." Peter struggled to say a few words. Taylor smiled softly at the memory of having to back up her brother's lie about their father quite often. Rhea smirked a bit, remembering when Peter had first told her the story this endearing him more to herself. Rocket and Drax exchange confused looks with one another. "He's a singer and actor from earth... a really famous guy." Peter explained and Drax nodded. "And, you know, today it struck me. Yondu didn't have a talking car, but he did have a flying arrow. And he didn't have the voice of an angel, but he did have the whistle of one. And both David Hasselhoff and Yondu went on kickass adventures, and hooked up with hot women, and fought robots." Peter took a calming breath. "So, the thing is, David Hasselhoff kinda did end up being my Dad after all, only he was Yondu." Rhea reached up placing her hand on Peter's shoulder as Taylor gently nudged him with her shoulder. "I had a pretty cool Dad." Quill started to break down. "And what I'm trying to say here is, that thing you're searching for your whole life, sometimes it's right there by your side all along and you don't even know it."

Gamora saw Nebula, watching from a darkened doorway, before she turned and walked away, Gamora moving off after her.

"I am Groot?" Groot looked up at an upset Rocket.

"Yeah. That's the friend I was talking about." Rocket nodded.

"I am Groot." Groot commented.

"He did call you 'twig.'" Rocket said with a small smile.

"Nebula." Gamora caught up to Nebula in the hall. Nebula turned toward her, but she didn't look her in the eye. "I was just a child. Like you. I was concerned with staying alive until the next day - every day. And I never considered what Thanos was doing to you. I am sorry." Nebula nodded. "I'm trying to make it right, everything I did. There are little girls like you were - little boys - all over the universe - who are in danger. You can stay with us, and help them."

"I'll help them by killing Thanos." Nebula replied.

"I don't know if that's possible." Gamora said. Nebula shrugged before turning to leave, but Gamora grabbed her, perhaps too roughly. Nebula turned, ready to snap, bit Gamora embraced her. Nebula did not know how to react. "You'll always be my sister."

Tears welled in Nebula's eyes and, for just a moment, she embraced her sister back with one hand before pushing her away and leaving.

The Guardians left Yondu on the plank with a bulbous and rusty crematory at the center of the room. It didn't burn with fire, but a swirling, vibrant cosmic energy. They slid Yondu in as they watched with sadness and respect as his body was enveloped by the sparkling colors. Quill closed the door on the crematory and as he moved away, the other guardians moved out of the room. Taylor and Rhea also stepping away to give Peter some space, but Kraglin approached him.

"Pete." Kraglin stopped him, Peter turning toward him. Kraglin held out an old MP3 player to Peter. "Cap'n found this for you in a junker shop. Said someday you'd come back to the fold." Kraglin put an MP3 player in his hand. "It's called a Zune - what everyone listens to on earth nowadays." Quill nodded, touched. "It's got three hundred songs."

"Wait." Peter held out Yondu's arrow and Kraglin's lip trembled. "Rocket grabbed the pieces and reassembled them. I think Yondu would want you to have it."

"Thank you... Cap'n." Kraglin stood straight holding the arrow out before him reverently.

-0-

Taylor was staring out through one of the large portholes, taking in the vast ocean of stars. She had done it, she had found her brother and her psycho father to boot. She stood with her arms crossed watching as Yondu's ashes started to slip away.

In a way she was lucky, she only had to suffer the loss of one parent really. Peter had suffered the loss of what Ego was supposed to be to him having known him longer than Taylor and the loss of Yondu, the father he didn't realize he had.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot." Rhea said as she approached Taylor.

"You were protecting my brother and you had no idea who I was." Taylor shook her head. "And after what happened with Ego, I understand."

"You've really be looking for Peter all this time?" Rhea asked.

"For a long time I had no way to look for him, plus everyone thought I was nuts. Then when I came into my powers I realized I might have a way." Taylor admitted. "It wasn't until my teacher told me he was alive and had a lead on him that I really started looking."

"And you came by way of Asgard?" Rhea asked hesitantly.

"Yeah." Taylor nodded turning her attention to Rhea, surprised to see the nervous look on her face. "Why?"

"I stole a ship from there once." Rhea admitted.

"You're an Asgardian?" Taylor asked in surprise.

"Partly, I'm also terran and…" Rhea hesitated. "…and Jotun."

"Vanessa and Loki have a daughter like that…" Taylor trailed off as it all clicked. "Her name is Rhea as well…" Taylor eyed her critically. "What's going on? Who are you?"

"It's a bit of a long story." Rhea admitted. "And since you'll be with us for a while I think you should know it."

Taylor nodded and Rhea began her story telling her everything that had happened from the beginning to the end. Taylor's head was spinning with all of the information she was receiving from her.

"Why don't you go back to Asgard?" Taylor asked. "Or earth?"

"They'd never accept me for who I am and I wouldn't want to make them feel obligated to." Rhea shrugged sadly, but then smiled. "Plus I have my new family now and I'm quite happy about it."

"Think there's room for one more?" Taylor asked.

"Always." Rhea grinned. "Welcome to the Guardians of the Galaxy."

-0-

Yondu's sparkling ashes were blown out in spurts from the crematory into space. Rocket, Drax, and Mantis were watching Yondu's ashes in the vacuum of space, swirling almost magically form the helm of the ship. Quill sat down on the bed in Yondu's quarters which were located in the back of the helm. He scrolled through selections on the Zune. He stopped at "FATHER AND SON" by CAT STEVENS and pressed play.

As he listened to the song Groot crawled up onto the bed and onto his lap. Quill offered him one of the ear buds and Groot held it against his ear, amazed by the clarity of sound. Quill watched him, hearing the beauty of the song more through Groot's face than the music itself. They sat there together, listening to the music, a new father and son. Rhea wondered back to them watching them with a soft smile, Taylor just behind her with her own smile playing along her lips.

Nebula flew away, sad, perhaps regretful, but forcing her chin up to brace against what's to come. Gamora watched through a window as her sister disappeared from view. Rocket spotted something in the distance and his eyes lit up.

"They came." Rocket slid off of the chair he had been sitting in.

Groot saw the colorful flashing lights out of the window and pulled on Quill's shirt to show him. They got up to get a better view. Drax and Rocket saw Yondu's cosmic ashes pulsing and swirling out in space as, one by one, enormous ravager ships arrived around them. They each flashed specific light sequences and, with all the ships together it looked like fireworks.

"What is it?" Drax asked.

"I sent word to Yondu's old Ravager buddies and told them what he did." Rocket replied as Peter came up behind them with Groot, just as Gamora entered along with Rhea and Taylor.

"It's a Ravager funeral." Quill breathed out. Kraglin spotted the funeral and let out a scream of joy slamming his fist twice against his chest in a Ravager salute. Stakar and Martinex watched him there, the ashes making their way through space, moved.

"He didn't let us down after all, Cap'n." Martinex said.

"No, he did not, son. He did not." Stakar said hoarsely as they all saluted.

On another ravager ship another said their goodbye.

"Fare thee well, old friend." Charlie-27, an enormous man, was wistful as he salutes.

The next ship was captained by a fierce woman.

"See you in the stars, Yondu Udonta." Aleta with tears in her eyes and alcohol in her hand surrounded by an all-female ravager crew smiled sadly.

And the Guardians all watched from the helm of the ship, enchanted by the majesty. The Ravager's lights flashed filling the void of space in honor of Yondu.

"He didn't chase 'em away." Rocket said in wonder.

"No." Peter nodded.

"Even though he yelled at 'em." Quill shook his head. "And was always mean." Rocket glanced at Rhea who shook her head. "And he stole batteries he didn't need."

Quill shared a surprised look with Rhea and then they looked at Rocket, a little animal who didn't know the rules of how to be any more than a young boy whose tribe sold him into slavery.

"Of course not." Peter said adamantly.

"Family never truly abandons family in the end." Rhea smiled softly.

Baby Groot was on Gamora's shoulder and reached for Drax, who took him. Baby Groot yawned and nuzzled into Drax's shoulder, falling asleep while Drax lovingly patted his back. Rhea looked at Drax and Groot, Gamora, and Rocket, and now Taylor and Mantis, taking it all in, this strange family of hers. She turned to Peter starring at him lovingly as he wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her close, while placing his free arm around Taylor's shoulder.

"What?" Peter glanced at Rhea who just smiled a bit bigger.

"I love you to." Rhea said softly as she sunk into his side laying her head on his shoulder.

"It's beautiful." Mantis smiled and became teary eyed with a gasp, overwhelmed, as she looked out the window.

"It is. And so are you." Drax paused for a beat. "On the inside."

They turned back to the window standing there together, the Guardians of the Galaxy, watching the Ravager funeral and the colorful dust of an old friend dance. And the shape of the dust seemed to form something very close to an arrow, a tear slipping down Rocket's cheek.


	11. Chapter 11

Surrender by Cheap Tricks was playing throughout the comm system of the ship as they moved through space. It had been some time since Ego and everyone was adjusting to the new members of the guardians. Taylor and Peter were having a wonderful time reconnecting with each other. Taylor along with Mantis were also growing closer to the rest of guardians as well as they all spent more time together.

"Peter, you've been alive all this time? I thought you were dead! Tortured! Suffering! Instead I find out you've been prancing around space playing hero!" Taylor frowned as she stared out at the stars, Peter just having finished up telling her about his life in space. They had been catching up as they set in the helm of the ship, the first quiet moment that had had in a while.

"I have not been prancing." Peter rubbed is jaw.

"Really?! Then why didn't you come back?" Taylor asked bitterly.

"Because by the time I got my own ship it took me years to find you, it wasn't until I came here that I finally tracked you down." Peter said defensively. "I got scared that it was too late…that you had probably moved on and I didn't want to mess up anything that you might have had."

"Peter Jason Quill..." Taylor caused Peter to flinch at his full name. "You are my brother that I thought was dead, I would have been happy to have you back, I am happy to have you back." Taylor's eyes began to water. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you to." Peter smiled at her. "So what did you do on earth?"

"Stayed home till I turned eighteen then lit out and wondered the world for a time." Taylor answered as she leaned back in her chair. "When I was twenty one I ended up in Napal and met the Ancient One, she was the one who taught me to be a sorceress. From there on I met Cheshire of the howling commandoes, apparently she's immortal, and through her I met Captain America. Turns out he had been frozen this whole time. Then I became an Avenger, the world's mightiest hero's kind of thing."

"Wait, so you're friends with Captain America! The Captain America!" Peter looked at her wide eyed.

"Yep." Taylor nodded. "Do you remebeer the story grandma told us about meeting him?"

"Yeah, she really liked to brag about that." Peter nodded then looked hopeful. "Can I meet him?"

"He's kind of on the run now." Taylor admitted and explained what had occurred among the Avengers from Ultron up to their civil war. "Even I'm sort of on the run. I never signed the accords and I'm still a practicing hero so...yeah."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Peter frowned.

"You're just mad because I can't introduce you to Steve." Taylor teased.

"A little." Peter shrugged playfully.

"Who knows, maybe by the time I make it back around to earth they'll have patched things back up." Taylor sighed.

"You want to go back?" Peter frowned.

"Someday, you know, to say hi, introduce them to my baby brother." Taylor shrugged.

"By like three minutes." Peter whined.

"Still makes me the older sibling." Taylor teased.

"Whatever." Peter rolled his eyes.

"Fine, subject change." Taylor relented. "Tell me about Rhea."

"Aw geeze." Peter muttered, his ears pinking a bit, but none the less told Taylor all about Rhea as he set in some coordinates and tool off to the nearest jump point.

-0-

Kraglin had a version of Yondu's fin implanted into his head and looked nervously down at the arrow on the floor. He tried to whistle, but it just flipped around like a dead fish. He whistled again, and it flew up, hitting a wall, and fell back down again. He whistled again, and it zipped away around the corner and then there was a scream.

Kraglin looked around the corner where Drax was sitting with the arrow impaled into his chest, yelling in agony. Kraglin looked around, hoping no one saw him there, and he tried to slink away before hearing Drax thundering toward him prompting him to sprint away.

He turned a few corners until he ran head long into Taylor coming out of her room. He wrapped his arms around her to keep her up, her arms going around his neck struggling to keep her balance. His nose brushed against hers, both of them going red as they separated quickly.

"What's going on? Was that Drax?" Taylor asked.

"I may have accidently shot him with the Yaka arrow." Kraglin winced when he heard Drax's below of rage followed by his rapid foot falls in their direction. Taylor grabbed Kraglin pushing him into her room with a startled yelp from the Xandarian, closing the door just as Drax came around the corner.

"Where is he?" Drax demanded.

"Why are you bleeding?" Taylor avoided his question, looking at the arrow wound.

"I was shot by that Ravager fool." Drax held up the arrow, Taylor snatching it from him.

"Geeze Drax, you've had worst then this I'm sure. Go have Mantis fix you up and I'll track down Kraglin, talk to him about practicing in less public areas." Taylor assured him.

"When you find him tell him I will relieve him of his arms if he dares to show his face to me." Drax growled.

"Can't you just forgive and forget?" Taylor asked getting a look from Drax that clearly said he could not. "Ok, fine, what if I get you a knife of your choosing at our next stop will you let Kraglin keep his arms?" Drax looked to be thinking it over. "Please?"

"It is a deal, I will not harm your boyfriend in return for a new knife." Drax nodded.

"He's not my boyfriend Drax." Taylor's cheeks pinked.

"Then why do you both stare longingly at the other when the other is not looking?" Drax asked in confusion.

"We do not…just go get Mantis, you're making a bloody mess." Taylor ran a hand through her hair. The grey man shrugged and walked away.

Shaking her head she ducked back into her room spotting Kraglin holding up a nearly completed maroon knit scarf speckled with white and black. He startled, dropping the scarf and the ball of yarn attached to it which rolled under her bunk.

"Sorry! I just….it looked soft…and I…" Kraglin stuttered trying to get the ball of yarn by pulling on the string only unraveling the ball in the process. He dropped to his knees, Taylor's eyes glancing to where he had set his fin aside on her bedside table, and reached under her bed hitting his head on the frame in the process. "Ow!"

"It's fine Kraglin." Taylor said with a chuckle as he straightened back up yarn in hand and rubbing where his head had hit. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine." He grumbled, his cheeks turning blue as he handed her the ball of yarn and she gave him back the yaka arrow which he set down next to his fin. "Drax is pretty mad huh?"

"Yeah, but I promised him a new knife of his choice at our next stop to let it go and he agreed." Taylor rewound the yarn ball being careful not to unravel the scarf. "Though don't expect him to be the warmest toward you for a while. In fact you may want to lay low in here until he heads to bed."

"Thanks Taylor, for helping me." Kraglin ducked his head a bit.

"Not a problem." Taylor responded laying across her bed so her head was hanging off of the side and resumed her knitting. Kraglin set on the rug covered floor next to her glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, avoiding making eye contact whenever she glanced at him.

"What's that in the middle?" Kraglin asked.

"It's Celtic." Taylor replied running her fingers along the raised design in the middle. "It means protection."

"Oh…it's nice…." Kraglin mumbled.

"Thank you." Taylor said finishing it then sitting up on her bed letting her legs hang down next to Kraglin. She set aside her yarn and draped the scarf around him, Kraglin looking down at the gift with wide eyes. "It looks good on you."

"Thank you." Kraglin grinned as he ran his fingers over the soft yarn.

"Glad you like it." Taylor moved from her bed to sit down next to him, their shoulders brushing, taking out some more yarn.

"You knit a lot?" Kraglin commented.

"It's a hobby my mama taught me when I was younger." Taylor shrugged as she started to form the blue yarn into a pattern. "It helps me remember and feel closer to her."

"You're really good." Kraglin said softly, knowing how much both she and Peter loved and missed their mother.

"Thank you." Taylor smiled up at him and just like that Kraglin was trapped starring into her eyes, his lips parted as he tried to talk, to say something to keep their conversation going.

"You're beautiful!" Kraglin suddenly blurted out. Taylor's smile changed into one of shock, her eyes blinking owlishly at him. Kraglin blushed brightly and started to stutter out an explanation mixed with apologies.

"Thank you Kraglin…" Taylor said slowly. "I think you're very handsome."

"Ah, no I ain't." Kraglin ducked his head and scratching the back of his neck.

"Yes you are." Taylor took his hand making him jump, starring wide eyed at their joined hands. "It's your eyes I like the best though."

"My eyes?" Kraglin echoed and Taylor hummed her yes as she smiled softly at him.

"They're a beautiful shade of blue, like the sky back home." Taylor said with a smile causing Kraglin to smile back.

-0-

Quill was standing in the doorway of a very messy bedroom covered in roots and leaves. It looked like fall had come in like a monster filling the whole of the room. Peter took it all in looking down in disgust as the state of things.

"Dude, seriously, you got to clean up your room. It's a complete mess." Peter said in annoyance. A gawky adolescent Groot was hunched over, playing a video game, in this very messy room.

"I am Groot." Groot's voice was changing.

"I'm not boring, man. You're boring. Once I got stuck on a planet where everyone was just lines and dots. I had to use geometry to get out of prison. Is that boring?" Peter shot back, but adolescent Groot shook his head in disdain. "You know what's boring? Not doing the dishes. What's boring is me tripping over your vines everywhere." Adolescent Groot sighed dramatically. "Drax and I switched pants in the middle of that party last weekend. For no reason other than we're awesome and very much not boring." Quill stated to walk away then came back. "Once I got a venereal disease that made me float for three days... Don't tell Rhea... it's dormant, but... If that's boring then, I guess I'm boring." He looked at him. "I'm not boring." Groot rolled his eyes and made an exasperated sound. "What's boring is when you roll your eyes like that at me and make an exasperated sound like I'm an old, boring, stupid idiot." Quill thought back. "Now I know how Yondu felt." Peter shook his head. "Where did you even get that game?"

"I am Groot." Groot answered.

"Aunt Taylor? Of course, she's been spoiling you rotten." Peter groused.

"I am Groot." Groot said.

"She's cool?! She's cool, but I'm not?!" Peter was borderline whining. "If I told you half the uncool things she did when we were kids…"

"Everything ok in here?" Rhea poked her head into the door taking in the room. "What tornado came through here?"

"Groot won't clean up after himself." Peter gestured to Groot.

"I am Groot." Groot said and Peter's face went red.

"Dude! I said not to tell her about that." Peter snapped turning to Rhea. "It is totally dormant now, no longer a problem."

"I'm not susceptible to it anyway." Rhea winked at him then turned to Groot hands on hips. "Groot, Peter's right, this room is a wreck. You better put that game down and start cleaning."

"I am Groot." Groot replied.

"Excuse me?" Rhea asked in a low voice that even had Peter taking a step back. Groot peaked around sheepishly feeling that he had definitely overstepped a boundary. Rhea snapped her fingers and the game appeared in her hand.

"I am Groot." Groot shot up from his bed.

"I know it's yours and you can have it back in a week as long as your chores are done, your room is cleaned, and you apologize to Peter. If by the end of the week you haven't done all of this I'm giving it to Rocket to change into a bomb." Rhea said sternly and Groot hung his head in defeat.

"I am Groot." He mumbled.

"Well I accept." Peter said and Groot set about cleaning his room as Rhea stepped out with Peter. "You'd make a fantastic mom."

"Is that an offer Star Lord?" Rhea teased and Peter's face erupted as he stuttered incoherently. Rhea laughed placing a kiss on his cheek. "Don't have a heart attack Peter, I was only teasing."

"I knew that." Peter defended himself.

"Ah huh." Rhea smirked. "I'll see you later. Gamora, Taylor, Mantis, and I are having a girl's night."

"Room for one more?" Peter joked placing his hands on her hips.

"You do have a knack for braids." Rhea placed her hands around his shoulders, fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck, both of them leaning in for a kiss, but Taylor's door opening allowing Kraglin out stopped them short. Kraglin glanced around cautiously before his eyes landed on Peter and Rhea.

"Is the coast clear?" He asked as Peter gaped at him.

"Dude, what are you doing in my sisters room?!" Peter demanded.

"He was hiding from Drax." Taylor replied stepping out next to Kraglin.

"Long enough for you to knit him a scarf?!" Peter pointed to the article of clothing hanging around Kraglin's neck.

"I've been working on that for him for a while now." Taylor waved him off.

"A while?!" Peter's eyes shot between them. "No, no, nope…not my sister!"

"What are you talking about Pete?" Taylor's face flushed.

"That right there, that's what I'm talking about. With the blushing and cure little gifts…" Peter listed off. "I know when you have a crush, just like in grade school when you had a crush on Jeremy Brown and you kept giving him stuff you'd make."

"Oh my gosh, Peter!" Taylor's face really erupted while Kraglin just grinned.

"You wipe that grin off your face before I…." Peter was cut off by Rhea dragging him back through the halls. "Hey, hey, I'm not done yet…"

"Yes you are lover boy, let your sister and Kraglin be." Rhea told him.

"But it's weird and not right and…that is my sister for crying out loud." Peter whined as she yanked him into her room.

"And Kraglin is a good guy, he won't hurt her." Rhea rolled her eyes.

"I know." Peter pouted. "Still messed up though, he's like ten years older than her."

"And I'm almost twenty years older than you." Rhea pointed out causing Peter to pause.

"I never thought about that." Peter admitted then ginned a bit as he took hold of her hips bringing her closer to him. "Lucky for you I have a thing for older women."

"Lucky for you I put up with your youthful follies." Rhea ran her hands up his chest resting on his shoulders.

"Still not sure about Taylor and Kraglin though." Peter grumbled. Rhea just rolled her eyes pulling his down into a deep kiss making him forget what he was talking about before.


End file.
